


Arc 2 - Castaways

by Nightlit



Series: Alternate X [3]
Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Original, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-07-20 06:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 45,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19987741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightlit/pseuds/Nightlit
Summary: As things get worse for mutants everywhere, certain people begin to gather to the Xavier institute, looking for a place to belong.





	1. 2.1 Ice Fire

“Come on.” Bobby Drake tells himself. His eyes are still blue, he can feel it. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that his eyes are supposed to be brown. Blue eyes mean his eyes are still frozen. Which means he still hasn’t been able to turn his power off yet.

The last thing he need is to accidentally freeze a bus full of innocent people. He doesn’t want to freeze anybody. He already did that once, and it’s what led him here. On the run from everything he knows. His family, his friends, his girlfriend. Fake girlfriend. Ex fake girlfriend now he supposes.

To think she was perfectly willing to be his fake girlfriend when he was gay. The moment she finds out he’s a mutant? Suddenly he’s a monster. Never mind that they’d been friends for years before that. Nor that he’d only even revealed himself to protect her from a guy she hated. But all that went to shit, all because he had to be a damned hero. Some hero he turns out to be, he froze a bully solid, probably killed him, and then he ran.

So now he’s sitting in the back corner of a bus in one of the largest cities in the United States trying to unfreeze his eyes which have been frozen for at least a day now. He doesn’t even know why they haven’t melted. All he knows is that his life is over. It’s only a matter of time before a Sentinel sweep. And when that happens they’ll know who he is. Someone has to have reported him. His ex, the bully’s friends, the bully if he survived. Someone has to have said something.

He takes a moment to look around and his heart almost stops when a group of Sentinels fly overhead. It’s the third time that’s happened, but so far, none of them have been sweeps. Just the Sentinels going about their regular routine of intimidating mutants by there mere presence.

It occurs to him that the bus might be a death trap. It’s not faster than Sentinels nor can he easily escape it. He is about to leave when a boy, maybe a year or so younger than him, walks up and puts a black cap on his head. He’s about to protest when the boy hand him a jacket, “Put this on.”

Bobby looks down at the Jacket. It’s thin, not going to protect anyone from the cold, or anything else for that matter. It’s also black and nondescript. It doesn’t even have a hood, unlike the jacket he’s currently wearing, “No thank you.”

The boy shoves the jacket into his arms, “Put it on.”

Bobby feels his power flare up and takes a deep breath, “What do you want?”

The boy glares at him in response and whispers under his breath, “Put it fucking on before you get both of us killed.” Bobby just stares at him. “And don’t take the cap off either.”

“Why should I wear this?” Bobby asks.

The boy glares at him again, “Just fucking do it. I’ll explain la… Fuck it!” The boy grabs Bobby’s arm and pulls him to his feet. Bobby can’t help it. His tension, the unknown boy. A wave of sheer cold flashes out of him. A number of rings of ice spread across the inside of the bus, emanating from everywhere his skin isn’t covered. His eyes widen as various other passengers scream. Some in agony as portions of their bodies are frozen instantly, others in fear of the obvious mutant now in their midst.

The other boy, despite being right next to him, seems untouched. “Fucking! How are you so fucking stupid!” The boy yells before grabbing Bobby’s arm and yanking him forward. “We need to get out of here!”

This time Bobby doesn’t argue. The passengers who weathered his ice wave have gained their bearings, and if he waits any longer, he might not have any choice but to kill them all or be lynched. And he knows he won’t let himself be lynched. It’s just not in him. He’s always been a survivor. Even when that meant being a coward.

The boy points to the jacket, “And put that the fuck on!” Bobby isn’t sure why this is such a big deal, but he decides wearing it is less awkward for running from a mob of people than carrying it, so he does.

When some of the other passengers stand up and put themselves between them and the back exit, the boy shakes his head, “Dude just accidentally gave like half of you frostbite. You really wanna see what’ll happen if he’s trying to hurt you?” That causes them to back off.

He grabs Bobby’s arm and pulls him to the back door. “Driver! We want off, and frankly, you want him off. So open the fucking door already!” The driver does as the boy says and Bobby soon finds himself on a random sidewalk, with a random boy he doesn’t know, wearing a random black cap and jacket for some reason. And he’s scared out of his mind.

“Look. We gotta get outta here before someone reports you.” The boy says, this time a lot calmer than he was on the bus.

Bobby stares at him, “Who are you?”

The boy sighs, “You really wanna do that here? Now? Rather than after we get someplace, you know, that’s not about to be swarming with giant robots?”

“No.” He says.

The boy turns into an alleyway, “Then let’s go.” Bobby follows him.

**Earlier That Day**

It’s been a few weeks since the X-Men picked John up in front of his last foster home, and the wonder and confusion have mostly worn off. It’s been reported that he is missing and, though his body wasn’t found, that he still most likely died in the fire, which suits him fine.

The fact that he’s sitting in the mission briefing room waiting doesn’t. Though he can’t make flame, so at least he can’t accidentally destroy anything, he has little control over his powers. While he’s no stranger to street brawls, any mission would likely have them fighting Sentinels or police officers. People he has no business fighting.

“What am I doing here?” He asks Scott, whose sitting on the other side of the table.

“I don’t know. The professor just told me to bring you. But it must be important. He’d never have asked for you otherwise.” Scott says, causing John to sigh in frustration. He still owes them his life. He supposes he can listen to what they have to say.

A moment later, everyone else enters the room together. Charles wheels himself over to the table opposite John, “I’m sorry to call you here. Normally I wouldn’t even consider sending someone as untrained as you on a mission such as this, but, unfortunately, circumstances dictate otherwise.” That peaks John’s curiosity.

“You see, a young mutant, one Robert Drake, has gone on the run. He reportedly froze a young man who was just trying to protect a girl from him. By the time the authorities were looking for him, he’d already left. I’ve managed to locate his general wherabouts, but we’ll have to hurry or the trail will run cold.” Charles looks at John, “Here’s the reason you are here. The boy is powerful. Powerful enough that I couldn’t get a specific reading on his specific location or what his power does.”

That grabs Scott’s attention, “Even with Cerebro?”

Charles nods, “Yes Scott. Even with Cerebro.”

Jean raises her eyebrows at him, “So he’s like, the most powerful mutant you’ve ever sensed?”

Charles thinks for a moment, “Possibly. But he is not the first mutant I’ve encountered whose powers prevented me from getting a clear reading on them.” He looks Jean straight in the eyes, “Do you really think I’d have left you in that hospital for as long as I did if I’d been able to pinpoint who you were?” The entire room goes silent, and when John looks around, he can tell the tension in the room has risen immensely.

“I’m not gonna like this am I, Chuck?” Logan eventually says.

Charles shakes his head, “Perhaps. Perhaps not. I’ve been sensing what I believe is him for quite a while, and the little bit of digging I did into him came up with a mild mannered boy who, aside of being a mutant, lived a relatively mundane life. As powerful as he is, he does seem to be in control of that power.” He thinks for a moment, “Or he has yet to access most of it. In either case, this has the potential become a serious problem.

“If he’s on the run, chances are his stress level is rising. Particularly since he may not know that the boy he froze survived and is projected to make a full recovery. Though nothing has happened yet that we know of, as powerful as he is, it’s likely the continued stress might cause his powers to go out of control. If that happens, the Sentinel response may be the least of our worries.”

He turns to John, “Which brings me to you. If we were to end up in an altercation with him, I have every reason to believe he could easily incapacitate or kill any of the rest of us. Possibly without even trying. Your power, however, allows you to manage the heat within your body independently of the heat around you. This should offer you at least some protection from his powers, especially if they aren’t actively directed at you.”

He sighs, “I won’t lie to you. This is going to be a dangerous mission. Perhaps the most dangerous mission we’ve went on since the mission to recruit Piotr. But if we do nothing, it could be a catastrophe, not just for Bobby and the people around him, but for the future of mutants everywhere. Recruiting Bobby is not just a matter of his own safety. He must learn to control his powers, or there is no telling the devastation he could cause. I won’t make you do this John, but I’m asking for your help.”

John nods, “Of course I’ll help. What’s the plan?”

Charles looks at Ororo, “Time is of the essence. Let’s reconvene on the blackbird, and I’ll explain the rest there.”

“Can I at least ask where we’re going?” John asks.

Charles nods, “Robert Drake is somewhere in New York City.”

**Now**

“Where are we going?” Bobby asks the boy. They’ve been walking for a while, and though he is no longer worried about the bus, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to their path either.

“We need to find a bathroom with a sink.” The boy says simply.

Bobby raises an eyebrow at him, “A sink?”

The boy turns to him, “Yeah. You may not be the most memorable person, but it’ll be much easier to hide you if you have brown hair.”

Bobby looks down, “I don’t know how to dye my hair.”

The boy smiles at him, “I got you covered. Used to be the only thing that kept me sane.”

“What’s your name?” Bobby asks.

“John.” John says.

Bobby holds out his hand, “Bobby.”

John takes it, though he doesn’t put much effort into the handshake, “Cool.” He then turns, “Come on.”

Bobby is about to follow him when the familiar red glow of a Sentinel sweep appears in front of them. “Uh… we gotta.”

“Stop panicking!” John says, “Just keep the hat and jacket on.” He lowers his voice, “The fabric blocks your DNA from sensors.”

Bobby blinks, “That’s why...”

John shakes his head, “Couldn’t exactly announce that to a bus full of randoms could I?”

Bobby looks down, “I guess not.”

John turns around, “I just got an idea.” He pulls Bobby into a motel where he walks up to the counter and asks for a room.

The man behind the counter stares at them, “And you just want the room for one night?”

“Yep.” John says, then puts an arm around Bobby, “Me and my boy here, well, we’ve got a couple of chicks and we need a place the rents won’t look.”

The man smiles, “Ah.”

After they reach the room, Bobby let’s out a breath, “You know I’m gay.” He blurts out.

John turns to face him, an eyebrow raised, “Chill dude. I don’t have any actual chicks. We aren’t even gonna be here tomorrow. We just needed their bathroom so I could use this.” He pulls a package of brown hair dye out of his jacket.

“How long is this gonna take?” Bobby asks.

John takes him into the bathroom, “You’ll wanna take off your shirt. Just keep the jacket on in case a Sentinel decides to scan the building.”

“So?” Bobby asks again.

“Oh. It’ll take a bit. You see, we aren’t just gonna dye your whole head brown. Real hair color isn’t uniform. We gotta make sure it looks natural. So I dunno how long it’ll take.” He grins, “We may actually be here overnight.”

Bobby has never dyed his hair before, but he finds it somehow both extremely dull and extremely involved at the same time. John seems to love it though, for reasons Bobby can’t comprehend, and the other boy’s enthusiasm makes it just tolerable enough to not be excruciating.

After a while, Bobby can’t stand it anymore. But since John is right, him looking like a natural brunette would help him stay alive, he instead decides to start a conversation. “So, you’re a mutant?” He asks.

John looks at him incredulously, and then motions to his jacket and hat, “You think I’d be caught dead wearing this if I wasn’t?”

“Is black not your color?” Bobby asks.

John shrugs, “Is it yours?” He counters, though Bobby gets the impression John could care less about the entire conversation.

Bobby thinks for a moment. He’s not actually sure what his color is. He supposes he never really had a color. Having powers he’s been trying to keep secret for much of his life, he never wanted to stand out. “Never thought about it.”

John shrugs, “The color doesn’t really bother me. But ugh. I really hate having to wear it.”

“You one of those fashion forward guys?” Bobby asks.

John laughs, “Maybe. I dunno. Never had the chance to be fashionable.” He doesn’t tell Bobby that he’s always seen fashion as an indicator of wealth and power. Being fashionable isn’t something you do to look good. It’s how you tell the world that you own it, not the other way around. Of course, he knew the world owned him. He could never afford anything. He had no control whatsoever about his life. But now that’s different. Now he can make some choices. But the hat and jacket constantly remind him that no amount of money will stop the world from stomping on him cause he’s a mutant. Which is why, though he’s glad they stop the Sentinels from finding him, he also hates them.

Bobby remains unaware of John’s thoughts, “Then how’d you get so into hair dye?”

John smiles at him, “It was something I could do. Something I could buy myself, do to myself. Show myself to the world. No one could take it from me. Cause if anyone tried, I could just dye my hair again.”

Bobby blinks at that, and laughs. It’s something he understands, “I get that.”

John continues to smile, but he doubts Bobby gets anything. He can tell Bobby had an easy life. Even being a mutant. Bobby almost froze an entire bus full of people on a whim. John can’t even make a single flame on his own. But that’s always been John’s lot in life. He’s had to grab a hold of everything that was ever his. Bobby is the kind of kid whose had everything given to him. The kind of kid John has always resented. Sure, Bobby seems nice enough, so John can’t find it in himself to outright hate him, but he knows he and Bobby will never see eye to eye.

They continue to chat idly as the time goes by until John smiles at him, “Should be dry now.” His smile widens to a grin, “You gotta see this.” He turns Bobby towards the mirror and, Bobby has to hand it to John. The boy knows his hair dye. His hair isn’t just brown, it looks like it was naturally that way. He flips his hair a bit and looks again. Still looks natural. He ruffles his hair and looks again. Still looks natural.

John laughs, “Trying to ruin my work?”

Bobby shakes his head, “Just checking how careful I have to be.”

John rolls his eyes, “As if I’d trust you with that.”

Bobby blinks, “You don’t even know me.”

John laughs, “I know you well enough to know you don’t give a fuck about your hair.”

Bobby sighs, “You don’t know anything about me.”

John raises an eyebrow at him, “Should I?”

Bobby turns away, “I guess not.”

Bobby watches as John grabs some heavy duty cleanser and cleans the dye from the bathroom. He can tell John has done this before, and that’s strange to him. He’d never guess John to be the meticulous type. He realizes he doesn’t know John either.

When they leave the bathroom, it’s well past midnight, and John decides it’s safe to leave. Bobby isn’t sure whether to be relieved or not when he sees a different guy behind the desk, “You sure you wanna check out now? You won’t get a refund on the room.”

John sighs, “Chicks bailed, so we don’t need it anymore.” The guy nods and takes the key from John before they leave the building.

“So, what now?” Bobby asks.

John turns to him, “Now we get out of dodge.”

Bobby raises an eyebrow, “And how do we do that?”

John grins, “We get some help.”

**Before The Bus**

John and Jean are standing on the top of a building overlooking the city. The blackbird is hovering overhead, but it’s invisible. John is surprised, what looks just like any stealth plane, actually seems to be able to make itself invisible even to the naked eye.

<Can you sense anything?> Charles asks.

Jean frowns, <No. I’m not sensing anything. I don’t think I’m cut out for this.>

Charles sighs, <Its okay. I knew it was a long shot.>

John, on the other hand, is sensing something. And considering how far away it is, it’s strange to him that he can sense it. It’s as if something is draining the very heat away from a small area. No, that’s wrong, it’s not being drained away, it’s simply disappearing. Could that be Robert?

Jean looks at him, <Do you sense something John?>

<I think so. This guy has ice powers right?> He asks.

<That seems to be the case.> Charles responds.

<I’m sensing a really cold place nearby. It’s small, and it’s like the heat is there and then just gone.> John explains.

<That’s probably him.> Scott thinks, <What do you think Professor. Should we leave John here?>

<I think so. We don’t know what Robert is capable of. John, you should keep your body temperature as normal as you can. Robert may be able to sense heat fluctuations like you can. He isn’t likely to be specifically looking for you, so the chances of hims detecting you as long as you aren’t hotter than a normal person are slim. However, we don’t want to take any chances.> Charles voice rings in John’s brain. He’s not sure he’ll get used to this telepathy thing.

Scott’s voice also rings in hie head, <We won’t be able to come to your rescue immediately. Nor will we be able to keep tabs on where you are.>

<Where should I meet up with you guys?> John asks.

<We’ll be waiting stealthed in the sky. With all the Sentinel sweeps it’ll be too dangerous to stay in one place. You’ll have to signal us for a pick up when you’re ready. I suggest getting out of town first. The last thing you’ll want is to draw Sentinels to your position.>

<What about Robert?> John asks.

<You have the jacket and cap to hide his DNA from the sensors, you’ll have to lay low to avoid detection by more conventional means.> Scott answers.

John thinks for a moment, <I have an idea. But I’ll need some cash.>

<Give it to him Jean.> Charles says.

Jean is handing him money, <Already on it. What’s your plan?>

<Everyone’s looking for a blonde kid. But no one’s looking for a Brunette.> John says.

Jean grins at him, <So for the price of some hair dye we can totally avoid detection?>

<That’s the plan.> John responds.

<Don’t get complacent.> Scott says, <But, good plan John. That kind of creative thinking will get you far.>

John smiles. Though he’d never admit it, he greatly trusts and respects Scott. <The alley’s clear.> He thinks and then Jean lowers him to the ground.

First thing he needs to do is find a shop where he can buy some hair dye. Then he needs to find the cold place he’s been sensing. By the way its moving though, he has a guess where to start. He just has to hope the bus route isn’t on its way out of town.

**Now**

Bobby never thought he’d be wandering New York dodging giant robots. He’s known he was a bit different his entire life. It wasn’t just that he liked boys, he’d always had an affinity for the cold even before he knew he could command it. In fact, he can’t really remember a time when he couldn’t use his powers, and at first, he wasn’t even aware others couldn’t do the things he could do.

Fortunately he didn’t know how to do anything that anyone noticed until he realized that he could in fact do things other people couldn’t, and that’s when he decided to master his abilities. Both so he wouldn’t use them on accident and expose himself, and because well, frankly, he wanted to be a hero. Spiderman appearing in New York city only spurred his feelings.

Finding out mutants exist was a strange experience to him. Finally, he had an idea what he was. But that also meant he was even more of an outsider than he’d be for being gay. He’s considered trying to live the straight life, but he realized keeping a lid on his powers was hard enough without trying to deny this other side of him, so he compromised by jumping far down into the closet to everyone but himself, his family, and his fake girlfriend. He wasn’t about the lead her on after all. And it isn’t that he was in denial, he just didn’t want nor need his business spread around. He told the people close to him, and otherwise kept it to himself.

Why did he tell John? It only takes him a moment to realize that it was so he wouldn’t have to worry about it. Being closeted is one more thing on his shoulders that doesn’t need to be there. And he can’t do anything about being a mutant, or about the Sentinels, or even about being gay. But what he can do is stop hiding it. That is a burdain entirely within his power to lift. There’s something else within his power too. “Where are we going?” He asks John.

John looks up, “Outta dodge.”

Bobby steps forward, “What are you looking for?”

John looks at him incredulously, “You really asking me that?”

“Sentinels?” He asks.

John rolls his eyes, “Right, announce that to the world.”

Bobby flinches, “Sorry. I’m not used to being on the run.”

John raises an eyebrow, “How did an earnest guy like you keep such a big secret?” He’s legitimately curious.

Bobby thinks for a moment, “I guess I was never afraid before.” He looks around, “Or I just repressed my fear like I was repressing a bunch of other things.”

John shrugs, “So you what? Think fear’s bad?”

Bobby looks at him, “You don’t think it is?”

John shakes his head, “Fear’ll keep you alive.”

Bobby shakes his head, “But you seem so together.”

John moves into an alley, “You don’t have to have a panic attack every time you hear a bump in the night.”

Bobby raises an eyebrow, “But isn’t fear paralyzing?”

John laughs, “Can be. Can be motivating too. Even thrilling.”

Bobby shakes his head, “I guess I don’t understand.”

John nods, “I think I get it. You’ve never really been afraid. Sure, you’ve had paranoid delusions, like all your small town folk do about anything you don’t understand. But it’s all imaginary. The kind of fear kids have for bedtime stories.” John looks him in the eyes, “Now you’re facing real fear. The kind that bitch slaps you in the face and all you can do is run or stare it down.”

“Run away? You don’t strike me as a coward?” Bobby says.

John shrugs, “Cowards survive. What’s so bad about that?”

Bobby looks down again, “Maybe I was afraid of being afraid?”

“Lot’s a people are.” John responds, unsurprised at the revelation.

He then pulls Bobby to the wall, and points up. Bobby looks up to see a Sentinel and his heart skips a beat. John motions in the direction they were going and sidles down the wall. The Sentinel flies past, but the two of them slowly make their way along the wall regardless.

Once they reach the other side John steps out of the alleyway and continues walking as if nothing happened. Bobby tries to follow suit, but he can’t help but glance up every so often. Fortunately, its late enough that no one’s around to notice.

“I thought this was the city that never sleeps?” Bobby says, mostly to distract himself.

John laughs, “Why would anybody be here?”

Bobby looks around, and realizes John is right. Why would anybody be here? The only thing around them is a bunch of warehouses. There probably wouldn’t be anyone here during the day. He wonders for a moment why there aren’t criminals here, when he realizes there are cameras, and he realizes probably security guards. “Shouldn’t we be worried about the cameras?”

John shrugs, “We’re a couple of kids walking down the street. Do you really think the guy watching the feeds will care once he sees we’re just passing through?”

“It could be a woman.” Bobby responds.

John rolls his eyes again, “Not the point.”

When they leave the warehouse district and John just keeps walking in the same direction, Bobby can’t take it anymore, “Do you have any idea where you’re going?”

John shrugs again, which is starting to get on Bobby’s nerves, “Out of town.”

“And you know this is the way out of town?” Bobby asks.

“Every direction leads out of town eventually.” John responds.

Bobby glares at him, “Are you telling me it makes no different which direction we leave town from?”

John nods, “Yep.” Bobby sighs in response.

They continue like this for a long time, avoiding populated areas and Sentinels but generally moving in the same direction until eventually they’ve passed through some suburbs and into some wilderness. Bobby has no idea how long they’ve been walking for, but its still dark out. “Is this far enough?”

John looks around, “Probably. Get ready, we may have to get outta dodge pretty quick.” He then pulls out his lighter and lights the flame. He’s been waiting to do this all night. He wanted to see if he could fry some Sentinels all night, but he couldn’t risk not having the gas to send the sign. Now though, he’s sure when he sends the signal at least one Sentinel will come and investigate. He’ll get his chance.

Bobby stares aghast when the small flame of the lighter blasts up in the air as a giant ball of flame, “What are you doing!” He whispers to John. The expression on John’s face scares him. The smile isn’t a smile you’d see on a sane man.

Of course, it doesn’t take long for a Sentinel to come calling. And when the first one lands John blasts it with a huge blast of fire, causing it to glow with the heat as it slows down and then stops. Another Sentinel lands and John does the same thing to it. But when the third Sentinel approaches, John realizes he can’t draw the flames anymore. His lighter fluid has run out.

John wonders where the others are. Surely they’ve seen his blasts. But then he realizes, what if they were on the other side of the city? He hadn’t shot the blast that high, he’d wanted to make sure he’d have enough fluid for a Sentinel. And he had, for two, but there are more than two there now.

“Get behind me!” Bobby yells, though he doesn’t give John a choice. Bobby pulls John behind him and then lifts his hands. John watches in amazement as Bobby’s skin freezes over, at least that’s what John thinks at first, until he realizes that Bobby’s entire body is translucent. He hasn’t coated himself in ice. He’s become it.

But that doesn’t astonish him as much as what Bobby does next. He shoots a giant blast of cold that freezes the Sentinel almost instantly. And he doesn’t stop there. As each Sentinel lands he turns towards it and freezes it as well. John realizes this isn’t the work of someone who is desperately trying to control his power. Bobby’s done this before.

There are six frozen Sentinels by the time the red beam shoots from the sky and slices them all in half. A moment later a rope ladder falls from the sky, “Go!” John yells grabbing the ladder.

John stares even more when rather than climbing the latter, Bobby freezes himself a ramp of ice that lifts him up in the air, “Come on!” He says as he stops next to John, who is bewildered for only a moment before abandoning the ladder to grab a hold of Bobby who continues to carry them both upwards to the black bird.

A man wearing a strange looking Visor is waiting for them, “Robert Drake. Please come aboard.”

Bobby steps aboard and is about to unfreeze the ice when the man leans out and blasts the entire structure down with a red beam that comes out of his eyes. “I’ve got them.” He says as he pulls up the ladder and closes the hatch. He turns to Bobby, “The Sentinels can’t detect us now.”

Bobby sighs in relief. “I’m Bobby.”

The man turns to John. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll live.” John grumbles.

He turns back to Bobby, “I’m Scott, and we’re here to make you an offer.”

Bobby looks around, “Are you both mutants?”

A strong, older sounding voice comes from the front, “All of us are.” When Bobby looks he sees a tall dark skinned woman with white hair. “And we wish to help you.”

Bobby looks down, “Are you like… recruiting me for an anti-human army or something? Cause I want nothing to do with that.”

The woman lets out a small chuckle, but her smile is genuine, “On the contrary. Our goal is to coexist with humanity.” She sighs, “Though I must admit as it stands this is getting less and less plausible seeming.”

Bobby turns to John, “John?”

John looks him in the eyes, “I can’t make your decision for you.”

Scott smiles, “You don’t have to make the decision immediately. We’re safe from the Sentinels for now.” Scott sighs, “But there is another complication that concerns you in specific.”

Bobby thins his eyes, “Meaning?”

Scott’s eyes thin in response, “You are quite powerful. Simply put, we want to help you learn how to better control your abilities.”

Bobby’s eyes thin more, “I think I controlled them fine out there today.”

John scoffs, “Controlled? You shot rings of ice at a bunch of innocent people on a bus.”

Bobby turns to face him, “You didn’t seem to complain when I froze those Sentinels that were going to kill us!”

Ororo steps in, “Boys, boys. This doesn’t need to be a fight.” She turns to Bobby, “Indeed, you do seem practiced with your ability. But, as with any skill, it can always be honed further. And while it’s true you froze those Sentinels solid, you also froze a portion of the area behind them as well. The other thing is, those were unmanned models, but there are Sentinels with pilots. Do you know if your just encased the Sentinel in ice? Or did you freeze it solid?”

Bobby’s eyes widen, “I… don’t know.”

“And that is something we’d like to help you with if you’ll let us.” She smiles at him, “Believe it or not, I have some understanding of the heavy burdain on your shoulders. I can also control the coldness of winter. It was not easy for me to master.” She opens her palm and pulls together water vapor from the air into a cloud, then she makes a small tornado of snow in her palms. Then she slows the wind down until it’s a beautiful snowfall.

“Wow.” Bobby and John both say. Scott simply smiles.

“I may be able to teach you how to do that, but even if I can’t, I’m sure we can help you in other ways.” The woman says.

Bobby nods, “Can you give me a place to stay?”

The woman nods, “We were hoping you’d ask that.” She then walks away from the hold, “Do you want to meet the rest of us?”

Bobby smiles, “There’s more?”

She nods, “There is. My name is Ororo. I’m sure Scott has already introduced himself. You go by...?”

“Bobby.” Bobby says before following her into a room full of chairs with a cockpit in the front.

“Hello! I would like you to meet Bobby.” Ororo says, then she motions to a redheaded girl, “Jean.”

Jean smiles at him, “Heya.”

Ororo then motions to a very large man, “Piotr.”

Piotr bows his head, “Pleasure to meet you.”

She turns to a gruff looking man, “This is Logan. He may look tough, but you shouldn’t be afraid of him.”

Logan sighs, “Why’d ya have to go and tell him that? Now I’m gonna have to work twice as hard to get him in line!” Bobby can't help but be amused. Though his face doesn’t betray it, his tone sounds like he’s pouting.

Ororo laughs, “Somehow, I don’t think that will be a problem.” Causing Logan to roll his eyes.

She then leads him to the cockpit, “And this, is Charles Xavier.”

Charles looks at him in something similar to a rear view mirror, “Hello Bobby. Welcome to the X-Men. I hope you choose to stay with us.”

Bobby smiles, “I think. I think I will.”


	2. 2.2 Pryde and Goldenboy

“Hello there. Have you heard of the Friends of Humanity?” A woman with a stack of fliers says as Kitty Pryde walks past her on her way to school.

It isn’t that she doesn’t understand what they are doing, it just has nothing to do with her. She has more important things to worry about, like getting good grades and getting into a good college. And frankly, they are starting to annoy her.

When they first showed up in Deerfield she found them mildly interesting, but she didn’t take the fliers then and she certainly has no reason to take them now. The fact that they keep asking her is getting on her nerves. Though they don’t all stay in the same place, there are only three people who are handing out fliers. They have to recognize her by now. It isn’t worth worrying about though, so she just does what she always does and ignores them.

She grumbles when she reaches the school and sees the group of new students that transferred in, children of the Friends of Humanity, who are much harder to ignore. They have this tendency to accuse anyone they don’t like of being a mutant and then harassing them, without any cause at all. And while she doesn’t like the idea of mutants in her school more than anyone else, she doesn’t see how harassing innocent people helps anything.

If she didn’t think it would ruin her life, she’d step in. But so far anyone who steps in has just been added to the growing list of people they harass, with the original bullying continuing regardless. And she just doesn’t have the time to deal with that. Especially since it seems fruitless to even try.

“Hey Kitty. What’s going on?” Rena, a friend of hers asks, mostly sounding bored.

Kitty shrugs, “Nothing. Just, like, studying for today’s test.” Kitty is not surprised when Rena ignores her after that. Rena is not what one would call a scholarly person.

“Kitty!” She turns to face the tallish blonde boy who is running up to her.

“Do I know you?” She asks.

“I was told you would be able to tutor me?” He says.

Kitty vaguely remembers that one of the new students had inquired about being tutored. She’d only considered it because it would look good on her college applications. She sighs when she notices the Friends of Humanity pin he’s wearing, but she can’t recall ever seeing him bully anyone, so perhaps he’s not so bad. “Like, what do you need help with?”

He looks down, “Nothing in particular. I just don’t want to go to summer school. This is the third school I’ve been to this semester, so I was hoping a tutor would help me catch up.”

She raises an eyebrow at him, “Well, I can tutor you, but you’ll have to be more specific about what you need.”

He sighs, “Oh. Sure. So I can come to you if I need help?”

She nods, “Totally.” She thinks for a moment, “Can I get your name?”

He blinks and then laughs nervously, “Oh! Sorry. Yeah.” He offers his hand, “Josh Foley.”

Kitty smiles at him, “Kitty Pryde.” His handshake is delicate, but firm, and she can’t decide what it says about him, except that he doesn’t seem the type to want to hurt anyone. She glances at the the pin again as she turns around and concludes he’s probably just being dragged around by his parents. She imagines that probably sucks, but there’s nothing she can do about it so she heads to class. At least he’s great eye candy, so she’s inclined to say yes just for that.

The rest of her day goes fine until she’s taking her test. She is going over her answers before turning them in, and she notices that one of the questions on the scantron isn’t answered at all. But she’s sure she answered it. She knows the answer, so there’s no reason she’d have left it blank. And when she checks to see if she somehow got off, she confirms that the next question is answered correctly, and the correct answer isn’t even the same letter anyway. She must have forgotten to fill it in or something. No matter, she has plenty of time to finish the test and get her A.

She grumbles when she notices a black dot on the desk upon lifting up her scantron. Some people have no decency. They could at least erase their doodles after they’re done. She erases the dot herself before turning the answer sheet in, confident that she’ll get a perfect or near perfect score.

**Meanwhile**

Josh finds Duncan and the other members of the self proclaimed Reavers standing out front after school where they always meet. He hadn’t really wanted to join, but Duncan is his best friend, and they move around so much that the choice was hang out with the Reavers or be alone. Josh hates being alone. “What’s up D?” He asks.

Duncan lets out a bored scoff, “Nothin. You find your tutor yet?”

Josh shrugs, “Yeah. Her name is Kitty.”

Duncan laughs, “Kitty?”

Josh nods, “I thought it was weird too when they told me her name. But she responded to it so...” He shrugs.

Duncan shrugs too, “Is she cute?”

Josh thinks for a moment, “She’d be cuter if she put more effort into how she looks. But I get the feeling she’s one of those scholarly girls.”

Duncan shakes his head, “So she’s all study and no fun?”

Josh shrugs, “Maybe. I had one two minute conversation with her. Not a lot to go on.”

Duncan nods, “Well, at least you found someone. Try not to stress yourself out too much. We’ll still need you for our nightly extracurriculars.”

Josh high fives Duncan, though he really could care less about that. Stalking random people to try and find any mutants isn’t exactly his idea of a good time. Neither is beating them up, but at least he understands the purpose of that. Mutants are dangerous monsters after all. But that’s all the more reason not to jump into this rashly. Protecting humans from mutants is a noble cause, but bullying random people who may not even be mutants isn’t protecting anybody. He wishes the others saw that.

Duncan looks at his watch, “Speaking of which. If I want to do said extracurriculars, I’m going to have to get home and do my homework.”

Josh grins at him, “At least you have your priorities straight.”

Duncan laughs, “Of course.” Before he walks off down the street towards his house.

Josh sighs. He’s gotta get home and do his homework too, or his parents will have a fit. They’d let hell freeze over before letting him skip the extracurriculars, even to do his homework.

**That Night**

“Did you see that?” Duncan whispers to Josh. Josh did see it, and wishes he hadn’t. A kid in an alleyway, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, probably thinks he’s alone, moving around a paper airplane with his mind. It might look innocent enough, but that paper airplane could easily be a knife. Or a bullet.

“Jackpot!” Nicole, another Reaver says. “Telekinesis could be tricky. What do you think?”

Josh sighs, “Maybe too tricky. We’ve been pretty lucky so far. Do we really want to chance it?”

Duncan gives him a look, “Ya starting to feel for the muties?”

Josh shakes his head, “I just don’t want to bite off more than we can chew. How do we know he couldn’t rip one of our hearts out or something?”

Duncan shakes his head, “See? That’s exactly why we have to do this! Would you rather he rip the heart out of some innocent person?”

Nicole shakes her head, “I definitely don’t. But Josh has a point. We should call for backup.”

Duncan thins his eyes, “We don’t have time. Look at his expression. He’s probably realizing how late it is. If we wait, we may never get this chance again.”

Josh hates to admit it, but Duncan is probably right. If they don’t go now, they may not get another chance. “Let’s be careful.” He says.

Nicole turns to Duncan, “Do you have a plan?”

Duncan sighs, “Do you?”

Nicole looks at Josh, “Josh? You’re usually the plan guy.”

Josh sighs, “I got nuthin.”

Duncan looks around, “Nicole, you’re the quietest of us, do you think you could sneak around to the other side of the alley so we can pincer him?”

She thins her eyes in thought, “I think so. But I’ll have to take the long way. He might leave before I get there.”

Duncan nods, “Its a risk we’ll have to take.”

Josh can feel sweat beginning to form on his neck. This isn’t like the previous times. This is definitely a mutant. And a telekinetic, one of the most dangerous kinds according to his parents. If they screw this up, they could end up dead. But if they do nothing, its only a matter of time before this kid hurts or kills someone.

“Dammit.” Duncan whispers, and Josh can see why. The boy is looking at his watch. Duncan was right, he is about to leave. And if he goes the other direction, Nicole won’t make it in time.

Josh realizes Duncan has decided to make his move. “Stay here in case he gets past me.” Duncan says, and before Josh can even say anything in response, he charges. It makes little difference. The boy’s eyes widen and then Duncan is smashed into the wall so hard he is knocked out instantly, a small pool of blood beginning to form by his head. The boy then runs off the other direction.

Josh runs up to Duncan, horrified to see his best friend in that condition. “No!” He whispers to himself as he kneels by Duncan. Fortunately, he has some first aid he learned from playing various sports before he had to move around too much from his parents joining the Friends of Humanity, so he knows what to do.

As he looks at Duncan’s head to make sure he’s not bleeding too much, while being careful not to move it in any way that would hurt him, something peculiar occurs. His understanding of Duncan’s injury is almost too real. He can feel it, though he doesn’t really understand why. Then he has this overwhelming feeling that Duncan is going to be alright. A moment later, he can’t see the injury at all.

He knows it was there. Not only could every fiber of his being feel it, the small puddle of blood on the ground is still there. Josh is flabbergasted for a moment until Duncan stirs.

“What happened?” He asks.

“He slammed you into the wall and then ran away.” Josh says.

Duncan rubs his head, “He must have hit me pretty hard.”

Josh nods, “I had to check on you. There wasn’t anything I could have done to stop him anyway.”

Duncan sighs, “Dammit!” He shakes his head and looks at Josh, “I’m not blaming you. If you’d charged out there, you’d just have been knocked out too and that wouldn’t help anybody.”

Josh is about to respond when Nicole swears behind him, “The kid did this didn’t he?”

Josh turns to face her and nods, “He just slammed Duncan into a wall with a thought. He’s lucky to be alive.”

Nicole shakes her head again. “Fuck! Did either of you get a picture of him?” She pulls out her phone, “I tried, but the lighting wasn’t very good.”

Josh nods, “That’s why I didn’t try. A flash would have let him know where we were. And a picture would have been tricky to get without him noticing anyway.”

The picture on Nicole’s phone is very unclear. “Dammit!” Duncan says when he sees it.

Josh sighs, “Should we try and find someone else?”

Duncan shakes his head, “We should go. The last thing he need is some kid accusing us of attacking him. If it comes down to our word against him, well, we’ll never win that fight. But he may be too afraid of being found out to mention it.”

Josh nods, “We should tell your parents though. He definitely saw you.”

Duncan nods, “Hopefully he didn’t see either of you.” He turns to Josh, “You sure you didn’t get a look at him?”

Josh thinks for a moment, “I dunno. I have a vague memory of what he looks like. I might be able to pick him out. I might not.”

Duncan nods, “That’s better than nothing at least.”

Nicole looks down, “Is that blood? Are you okay? Do we need to take you to the ER?”

“I must have cut myself somewhere when I hit the wall.” He smiles at Josh, “Good thing it wasn’t my head right?” He thinks for a moment, “Actually, I feel great. Better than I have in a long time!” He then stands up and starts walking away with Josh and Nicole quickly following behind.

Josh doesn’t mention that it was his head. He doesn’t really know what happened, and the less he thinks about it the better. There are no good implications to it, for Duncan or for him.

**Meanwhile**

Kitty is jostled away by a sudden impact. She can’t remember what she was dreaming about, but it must have been intense if she rolled off her bed. She hasn’t done that since she was a child. That’s when she realizes that she’s not on the rug in her room, but rather cold cement. But that is suddenly entirely unimportant when she opens her eyes and gasps.

She’s staring at the ceiling of her basement, and somehow her blanket is hanging partway out of it. As if it had been there when the cement was set in the first place. She has no idea how she got here. She was in her bed on the second floor, and now she’s in her basement and her blanket is halfway lodged in the ceiling.

That’s when the fear hits her. “Dad!” She yells. “DAD!” But her father doesn’t come.

She jumps to her feet and runs to the top of the basement stairs. She reaches forward to throw the door open, but instead of grabbing the door nob her hand moves through the door as if it isn’t there. “Dad!” She yells as she pulls her hand back, grabs the door nob and pulls the door open.

She runs through the kitchen towards the stairs and then up towards her parents’ room. She throws the door open, “Dad!” She yells.

Her parents jump out of bed, both shocked to see her. “What’s wrong?” Her father asks.

She shakes her head, “I… I… I don’t know!” Her father asking her what’s wrong shocks her out of her panic. She doesn’t know how to explain what’s wrong. She doesn’t even know what’s wrong. She honestly doesn’t even know why she was calling for her father. There isn’t any reason he’d know what’s going on more than her.

Her mother steps out of bed, “Are you hurt?” She asks.

And then she remembers why she called for her father. Her mother is great when there’s a problem to be solved. But she’s not so good when an obvious solution isn’t apparent. “No. I… at least I don’t think so.”

Her mother raises an eyebrow, “Why don’t you just tell us what happened?”

Her father nods, “Yes. That would be a good place to start.”

She stands up, “I think I have to show you. You wouldn’t believe it otherwise.”

Her parents look at each other before both walking over to her, “We’re here for you.” Her father says.

Kitty sighs, “Come on.”

When she shows them the blanked partially hanging out of the ceiling, her parents just stare up at it wide eyed. Now that Kitty isn’t freaking out however, she can’t help but ponder how strange it looks. This shouldn’t be possible, and yet there it is. The question is how it happened. Or perhaps more importantly, who did it. Did she?

Her father breaks her out of her pondering, “Kitty. Is there something you want to tell us?”

Her mother whacks the back of his head lightly, “That’s not going to help anything.” She turns to face her, “Has anything like this happened before?”

Kitty thinks for a moment, “I put my hand through the door nob when I was trying to get upstairs.” She recalls. She thinks for a moment. “And maybe I put a pencil through my scantron and marked a desk?” She recalls that dot and the question she thought she’d answered. She hadn’t put two and two together at the time, but then again, the idea that she could put objects through walls was absurd before. But looking up at the blanked hanging partway out of the ceiling. Not to mention her putting her own hand through a door nob, makes that considerably more plausible.

“Honey. Do you think you might be a mutant?” Her father asks.

Kitty looks down, “I...”

And then her parents are hugging her. “Don’t worry honey. This doesn’t change how we feel about you at all.” Her mother says.

Her father sighs, “It just makes me worry. With the Friends of Humanity in town, if they were to...”

Kitty hugs them, “I’m not gonna tell anyone. I don’t even know if its true.” But that’s a total lie. She knows. Maybe there’s another explanation, not every super powered individual in the world is a mutant, or at least, she can’t imagine they are. But even if there is another explanation, people wouldn’t believe it anyway, so does it even matter?

Her parents both stands up, “Well.” Her mother says, “I guess we’ll need to buy you a new blanket. And probably a new set of sheets too.” She sighs, “Hopefully once you figure out how this works we can get your old bedclothes out of the walls.”

Her father lets out a laugh, “Well isn’t this absurd.”

Her mother laughs too, but her laugh is a bit more resigned, “I just hope this doesn’t require us to hire contractors to fix. I have no idea how we’d explain it to them.”

Kitty walks up so she’s standing between her parents and puts her arms around them, “I, like, love you both so much.”

Her parents both put their arms around her and then they walk up the stairs. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” Kitty asks.

Her father nods, “Of course. Just try not to pull our bedding through the floor again. Our quilt was a gift from your grandmother.” That earns a more playful whack from her mother and laughs all around.

Kitty shakes her head through her smile, “I’ll try.”

**The Next Day**

Kitty can’t help but frown at the person who is handing out the Friends of Humanity fliers this time. She should never have even considered reading their flier. She feels a bit bad that it took realizing she might be a mutant to realize how bad they are. After all, she’s Jewish. All she has to do to realize how hate can go wrong is look at her own history.

Its when she sees the kids standing outside that she remembers Josh though, and she sighs. She realizes that she doesn’t have a reason she can give to not want to tutor him. And really, her tutoring him has nothing to do with him being a Friend of Humanity and her being maybe a mutant. She resigns herself to it. At least Josh seemed nice the other day, though she knows that could change fast if he learns about her powers.

Of course, she doesn’t even really know what her powers are. They obviously involve stuff moving through other stuff. And she knows she can make stuff aside of herself pass through other things. She pushed a pen through paper and drew on a desk. At least, she probably did. She didn’t fall out of her clothes either, and her blankets are still halfway embedded in her basement ceiling. She probably left sheets somewhere else in the walls to, but at least she didn’t seem to have messed up the electrical systems or the piping. At least, everything’s worked so far.

She shakes her head. She can worry about the ramifications of leaving clothing strewn through the walls later. The big question on her mind at the moment though isn’t what she can do. But rather how she can not do it.

She doesn’t know how she did what she did, but she does know if she accidentally does it and anyone sees it, especially a Friend of Humanity, her life as she knows it is probably over.

Despite her worries, nothing special happens and her classes move at an oddly fast pace for how much she cares about them. It isn’t that she isn’t paying attention, or isn’t learning anything, its just hard for her to think of them as important anymore. Can she go to college and live a normal life? Probably not.

Josh showing up causes her to sigh inwardly. Definitely not with people like Josh around. But she notices he’s not wearing the Friends of Humanity Pin today. And perhaps he’s just being dragged around by his parents. She is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, suddenly backing out of their arrangement for no reason would be kind of suspicious. “Hi Josh. Like, when did you want to meet?”

Josh sighs, “I dunno. Turns out I’m a lot busier than I thought.”

Despite the obvious out, Kitty can’t help but notice Josh seems a lot more stressed than he did the previous day, “Are you okay?”

Josh smiles, but its forced. “I dunno. But it’s nothing you have to worry about.”

Kitty shrugs, “Okay. But I can totally help you when you have time. Maybe it’ll get your mind off things?” Kitty isn’t sure whether she’s doing this to help him or pump him for information. Maybe a little of both. Or maybe she’s just crazy.

Josh smiles at her, “I have time now. We could get lunch.” Then he laughs, “Okay that came out wrong. I’m not asking you on a date, not...”

Kitty laughs at his awkwardness, “It’s okay. I never thought you were asking me out on a date.” She winks at him, “Not that I’d say no if you were.”

That causes Josh to blush, “If only I had time for that.” He sounds wistful, and Kitty isn’t sure its entirely a joke. “But I do have time to study over some food.”

Kitty grins, “Are you driving or should I?”

“Shouldn’t we go to the cafeteria?” He asks.

Kitty laughs, “You’ll never get any studying done in the cafeteria. If the noise doesn’t get ya, the indigestion will.”

Josh laughs, “Okay then. I guess I’ll drive, since I am the one who invited you.”

Kitty shakes her head, “Only after I offered.”

Josh grins, “Would you punch me if I offered to be chivalrous?”

Kitty laughs, “I have no problem with chivalry, as long as it doesn’t come with a side dish of misogyny.”

Josh isn’t sure how to respond to that, so he tries to keep up the good humor, “No misogyny here. At least, I hope not. You’d tell me wouldn’t you?”

Kitty gives him a look, like she’s sizing him up. But really, she just finds it endearing. Cause she can tell, like her, he’s only half joking. He really doesn’t want to be misogynist, but understands he might be without trying, “Don’t worry. As your tutor, it’s like, totally my job to correct you.”

Josh grins, “Then lets go shall we?”

The conversation moves to lighter topics as they walk, and Kitty finds she likes Josh. She’s never really had a boy she was just, hanging out with. There was always something else going on. Either she was hitting on him, or he was hitting on her, or they were already on a date. She’d never understood how girls could have friends who were guys, especially attractive guys, without relationship drama getting in the way, until now. It’s a pity that they can’t really remain friends, given his family, but at least she can bask in the moment.

“So, history.” He says as they sit in the car after buying their lunch.

Kitty nods, “We can start there if you want.”

Josh shrugs, “I have no idea where I want to start.” He thinks for a moment, “Have you ever had one of those days that completely changes everything for you?”

Kitty has. Today, but she can’t really say that. “I think so. But, like, isn’t that different for everybody?”

Josh nods, “Yeah. I guess it is.” Then he pulls out a book, “Math! Math is something we can work on!”

Kitty grins, “Yes! Math.” Kitty can get behind math. Math is uncomplicated. Math will actually distract her from the fact that she’s enjoying the company of a person who may very well want her dead if he knew what she is.

**Meanwhile**

“We may have a situation.” Charles tells Scott, Jean and Piotr.

“If we have a situation, then why aren’t Logan and Ororo here?” Scott asks.

Charles nods, “Ororo is preparing the jet, and Logan has volunteered to stay here with Bobby and John. However, hopefully this will not require their services. You see, I’ve discovered a new mutant, potentially more than one, but the other reading is unclear.”

That gets Jean’s attention, “You mean like, Bobby and me unclear?”

“Perhaps.” He says, “But perhaps not. Maybe I should be a bit more clear than that. You see, you two were not the first reading like that I encountered. And not every time I investigated did I find a mutant. There are things in this world best left undiscovered. That is why I am very careful to do more research on the subject before I go in.

“However, that is not the situation to which I refer. A young mutant, who I have identified as Katherine Pryde, has recently awakened to her powers. But there are two major obstacles to recruiting her. The first, though in my estimation more minor, obstacle is that she lives with her parents. Whether they know she’s a mutant or not I do not know, but if they do not, I don’t want to alert or alarm them.

“The larger issue is that an anti-mutant lobbying group, known as the Friends of Humanity.”

Jean scoffs, “Hate group more like it.”

Charles nods, “Unfortunately, that is likely the truth. But they do a lot of political lobbying, and I prefer the less pejorative term. In any case, the fact that they are there means that we must move with utmost caution. While our clothing causes Sentinels to ignore us, the Friends of Humanity are a different story. They have been known to strike first, often without full knowledge of the situation. They have left a number of innocent human victims in their wake, many who had no positive opinions of, let along contact with, mutants.”

Piotr sighs, “Did we do the wrong thing? Telling the world?”

Scott puts a hand on Piotr’s shoulder, “Unfortunately, this was inevitable. Mutants were going to come out eventually. And when that happened, someone was going to react like this.”

Piotr shakes his head, “You’re right. But that doesn’t make it any better.”

“We’re not fightin’ them are we?” Jean asks.

Charles nods, “If we can avoid it yes. We’d prefer to stand out as little as possible. Which is why I’ve decided to bring you.”

Jean’s eyes widen, “Wait, me?”

Charles nods again, “Ororo’s features are, atypical, to say the least. Piotr would stand out as well, just because of his size. Scott has his glasses. You, on the other hand, appear to be a normal redheaded girl.”

Jean looks at Piotr, “Piotr isn’t that large. He’d pass for human.”

Scott thinks for a moment, “But he’s still memorable. Someone could pick him out of a crowd. But you, if you kept your personality in check? You could disappear.”

Jean frowns, “Rats! Ya mean I gotta be boring?”

Charles chuckles at her, “I know I am asking a lot of you, but this really is our best option. It would not be ideal at all for our identities to be compromised to the Friends of Humanity, but we can’t leave Katherine where she is either. Who knows when they might start sending Sentinel sweeps there, and her getting discovered by the Friends of Humanity would undoubtedly be even worse.”

He turns to Scott and Piotr, “Ororo, Scott and Piotr will also be accompanying us. Scott and Ororo will be in charge of the black bird, as they have the most inhuman features. Ideally, Piotr will remain aboard ship, but revealing him would still be preferable to the alternative. So you’ll be our first back up in case something goes wrong. I may ask you to be present when we speak with Katherine’s parents, as you have a way of calming people down, but we’ll have to play that by ear.”

Piotr nods, “Of course.”

“So ideally, this is a simple mission. But it has the potential to be extremely dangerous.” Scott surmises.

Charles nods, “Absolutely. And we can’t forget the other thing I’m sensing. I’d like you to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. If it is a mutant, then we shouldn’t leave them there. If they are anything like Jean or Bobby, that could get out of hand very quickly. And if that happens, the Friends of Humanity will capitalize on it, which could have disastrous consequences for mutants everywhere.”

Piotr nods, “Maybe I should go with you while Jean seeks out this other person?”

Charles shakes his head, “I don’t want to separate us. No one should be out there alone. You guys should remain in the safety of the ship. Ideally Jean and I will only be leaving the ship to visit Katherine’s house.”

“But Piotr should be ready to go in case we find this other mutant?” Scott asks.

Charles nods, “You all should, but Piotr is our first choice. If we can get out of this without a confrontation with the Friends of Humanity or the new mutant, all the better.”

Piotr nods, “I can do this.”

Charles smiles at them, “I know you can. All of you.”

**Meanwhile**

“Are you sure?” Nicole asks.

Duncan sighs, “I’m sure. I checked like twenty times.”

Nicole sighs, “Let me.”

Duncan looks at her, “You sure about this?”

Nicole shrugs, “I’ve seen a naked boy before. Also, this is important. If what you think is true is true? We have to know.”

Duncan nods and then strips down. Nicole spends the next few minutes looking over his every detail. “You have no scars.”

Duncan nods, “I thought so. I couldn’t find scars from the injury either.”

Nicole shakes her head, “No, that’s not what I mean. You have no scars, at all. Even your circumcision is somehow scarless.”

Duncan’s eyes widen, “What? But that’s not possible, is it?”

Nicole shakes her head, “It shouldn’t be.”

“It didn’t occur to me to look at my existing scars.” Duncan says, and then looks down at his leg, “I should have a scar on my leg from when I fell off my bike.” He looks around and sure enough, none of the scars, minor or not, that he’s collected over the years are there. And his penis is the biggest hint yet. There is no indication that there was ever skin to cut off. “Do you think Josh did this?”

Nicole looks him in the eyes, “Who else could have? There was a puddle of blood on the ground, and it was pretty fresh. No way it was someone else’. The only other person who was there is the telekinetic, and do you really think he slammed you into the wall then magically healed you in the short amount of time it would have taken Josh to run up to you?”

Duncan thinks, “Well. He could have healed me because he was afraid. I don’t know how long I was out for. Maybe Josh waited until the guy left?”

Nicole shakes her head, “But I ran in pretty much as soon as I got to the other side. I was moving stealthily, but not that slowly. Besides, do you really think Josh would leave you there bleeding out while a mutant used his powers on you?”

Duncan sighs, “No… at least. Not unless he was the mutant.”

Nicole nods, “Josh… a mutant. I wonder if he knows.”

Duncan shakes his head, “He must know now. He lied to us about it.”

Nicole thinks for a moment, “The question is. Did he panic and lie in the moment? Or has this all been some kind of plan from the get go?”

Duncan shakes his head, “Josh didn’t want to join at first. He joined up because I insisted and his parents approved.”

Nicole’s eyes thin, “Maybe he knew he was a mutant? And that’s why he didn’t want to join up?”

Duncan looks down, “I don’t think so. He was as terrified of mutants as anybody.” He sighs again, “But then again, that could have all been an act. If he is a mutant, with his parents, he’d have to be a great actor.”

Nicole thins her eyes, “It sounds like you feel sorry for him.”

Duncan shakes his head solemnly, “I do. I know I shouldn’t, especially if he has been lying to me as long as we’ve known each other, but he’s my best friend. And if he really just realized he’s a mutant well. It just sucks.”

“You’re saying you can see them as human just cause on of them is your friend?” Nicole asks.

Duncan shakes his head, “No. It just sucks that someone who is such a nice guy like Josh is headed for a downward spiral that will turn him into a monster. Josh may be cool now, but anyone with the kind of power he seems to have will be corrupted by it eventually.”

Nicole notices Duncan’s hands are shaking, “You’re scared?”

Duncan nods, “I’ve… never faced a real mutant before. I know that now. When the guy threw me into the wall, there was nothing I could do. I was a rag doll. He just as easily could have snapped my neck. Look at what Josh did? He somehow healed me and removed every scar from my body. What if… what if he can do the opposite? What if he could cause me to bleed out and die just by touching me? Or worse, by just looking at me and thinking about it?”

Nicole steels herself, “That’s a risk we have to take. But, we shouldn’t jump the gun either.”

Duncan raises an eyebrow at her as he starts putting his clothes back on, “But you were the one who said it couldn’t be anyone else.”

“We still need proof. If we go accusing our own of being mutants without evidence we could open a can of worms in the Friends of Humanity that will never close. The internal witch hunt that results could… no would destroy the entire organization.”

Duncan stands up and looks at her, “Then we watch Josh more closely. If he’s been hiding being a mutant this entire time, he’ll never use his powers openly, and he’ll be very careful about using them with us around regardless. If he just found out too, he’d have to realize what that would mean. Hopefully he’ll do the right thing and turn himself in to us for the greater good. But, I’m not sure I would if I was in his place. That would be tantamount to suicide.”

Nicole nods, “And if we find the evidence we need?”

Duncan thinks, “Then we go to our parents. Let the organization decide what to do. Like you said, if we set a precedence of internal vigilantism, fear mongering will tear the organization apart.” Duncan doesn’t mention the other possibility. There was one other person there who could be a mutant. Him. The thought terrifies him, but there is hope. If Josh is the mutant than he’s vindicated.

He knows he’ll feel guilty for this for the rest of his life for this feeling, wanting to throw his best friend under the bus to save himself. And if its not true, if Josh isn’t the mutant, he will turn himself in. But he doesn’t feel any different. And there was a puddle of blood. If it was Josh’s blood, or already there, Josh would have said something to make sure they didn’t worry. Instead, he said nothing.

**That Night**

The dream fades almost instantly as Josh sits up in bed, covered in sweat. With the curtains shut his room is pitch black, which tells him its still night even before he confirms it by looking at his clock. He stops to try and remember the dream, but it’s gone. He has this vague sense that the dream was vivid, but all that remains in his memory is a sense of dread.

His bladder makes itself known, and despite his shaken state, he stands up and walks over to his bathroom. Now that his panic is wearing off he realizes he’s exhausted and yawns as he walks over to the toilet and fishes himself out. It’s then that he looks down and his panic returns tenfold.

His hand is gold. His penis is also gold. Not yellow, as it has an almost metallic sheen. As he stares his body eventually loosens on its own and a stream of liquid falls into the toilet that is almost the same color as the thing its coming out of. “I’m piss colored.” He thinks sardonically. Fitting, he supposes, given what’s going to happen to him.

He turns towards the mirror and is not particularly surprised when he sees that his entire face is the same color. In fact, in a bit of irony, the only part of him that he can see that hasn’t changed is his golden blonde hair, which used to stand out over his pale skin and is now dull compared to his new almost metallic sheen. He never thought gold would be the most terrifying color, and yet here he is, utterly terrified by it.

He isn’t sure how long he’s spent staring at himself, but he realizes soon enough that he has to make a decision about what he’s going to do, and fast. He no longer has the option to deny that he’s inhuman. The question is, what to do.

He knows what’s expected of him as a Friend of Humanity. He’s supposed to turn himself in and let himself be made an example of. Culled or studied for the good of humanity, but that thought doesn’t appeal to him at all. In fact, this whole situation makes him rethink the way he used to treat mutants in general. It was easy to be afraid of them when they were other. But now that he’s one of them. Now that he realizes how helpless it makes him feel, he realizes he’s not ready to end his life.

But where can he go? He has to leave, but he doesn’t know anyone who isn’t a Friend of Humanity. It hits him instantly: Kitty Pryde. She’s the one person he’s made any real connection with who isn’t a Friend of Humanity. He wonders if he can trust her, but he realizes he doesn’t really have a choice. Leaving town in a country full of giant robots who could fly overhead and detain or laser him into oblivion isn’t any better than turning himself in. Unless he can find help, getting caught is an inevitability.

He goes to his room and very quietly gathers the things he thinks he’ll need. He’s about to take his phone when he remembers his parents pay for it and it has a GPS. They could use it to pinpoint his exact location. He realizes his laptop has the same issue. The anti-theft programs they’d had installed on it would allow them to track him wherever he went.

Leaving those he grabs a gray hoodie he hasn’t worn in years, glad that he’d gotten it during his sagging phase, so it fit him. He grabs his backpack and puts in socks and underwear. He takes a couple of t-shirts, a couple of sweatshirts and a sweater. It takes him a moment to get his pants since it occurs to him that he shouldn’t be wearing anything that stands out. A difficult thing to do when most of your clothing is designer wear. Fortunately he was never big on logos, so even his designer clothing is simple, but anything like that might stand out, so he ends up grabbing a few pairs of jeans.

He looks around his room at various trophies and pictures. Pictures of his family. Pictures of his classmates. Pictures of his friends. Ribbons, from both science fairs and sporting events. His entire life. He realizes that life is over, but also, that it was never his. He’d always just done what his parents expected of him. The trophies, the ribbons, even joining the Friends of Humanity. He isn’t even sure he bought into what they said. He’d gone along with it because his parents had told him he should be afraid. He accepted that at face value, and isn’t even sure it occurred to him to consider it further.

Now he’s still afraid, but from the other side. But there’s another emotion he feels even stronger. All the sense of justice, of righteousness, that feeling that he was doing the right thing has turned to guilt. And the fact that it wasn’t a delusion. That he’d honestly thought he was doing the right thing, without even a moment’s thought as to the opposing point of view, scares him to his core. That he could be that selfish and egotistical fills him with a sense of self loathing he’s not sure he’ll ever get over.

But he knows he doesn’t want to die either, so he makes sure his hood is completely up and then steps out of his room. Rather than trying to sneak around, he walks as calmly as he can. If they hear anything, they’ll hopefully just think he’s out for a midnight snack. Its not atypical behavior for him. He’s done it all his life. He doesn’t take the time to find out if they notice, and if they do, they don’t make him aware of it, as he manages to exit the front door without so much as a peep.

The one good thing about being a Friend of Humanity at this point is that he has no attachment to the house. He doesn’t even look at it as he walks down the street. He’s moved so many times that leaving has no significance to him.

The backpack full of clothing, the only thing he has aside of a small bouncy ball. He didn’t even grab his wallet, though nothing in it is remotely useful to him now. The credit card is really his parents’, as is the money in his account. His ID has his old human face, and though the couple of bucks he had would be nice, he won’t chance going back to get it.

It doesn’t take him long to realize that if Kitty can’t help him, he’s got no other plan. But hopefully it won’t come to that. He has no reason to assume Kitty feels any differently about mutants than the Friends of Humanity, but she had to have seen his pin and didn’t mention it, so there’s hope.

**Later That Night**

Kitty wakes up to a noise. Was that a rock thrown at her window? She hears it again, and this time it definitely hits the glass, but doesn’t break it, so, not a rock. She goes out to the window and sees someone, a boy she thinks, wearing a hoodie. He’s fairly tall and has broad shoulders, but not too broad. He definitely seems familiar.

She realizes he’s throwing the same thing at her window, a small bouncy ball which is then landing back in the grass where he goes to pick it up again. She decides opening the window is probably better than letting him wake up her parents.

When she looks down from her window, he points towards the front door. She blinks a bit and then decides she doesn’t have to open the door for him before seeing who he is. And she realizes he can’t touch her anyway. She’s gotten good enough at activating her power that she trusts it at least that much.

When she looks out the small window on the front door, though she can’t see his face clearly, she recognizes Josh immediately and opens the door. “Josh? Like, what are you doing here?”

He steps inside but pointedly looks away from her, “I… didn’t know what to do. I had nowhere else to go.”

“Are you okay?” She asks.

He sighs, “I’m not. But, I don’t want you to freak out. I also want you to know, if you want me to leave, I...”

Kitty blinks, “Josh… did you just realize you’re a mutant?”

He freezes, “Kitty… I...”

Kitty puts a hand on his shoulder, “Its okay Josh. Whatever you look like. I won’t judge you.”

Josh hesitantly turns around and Kitty leads him away from the door. Josh is surprised when she goes and closes the blinds. “How did you know?” He asks, surprised.

Kitty turns to face him, “You, like, barely know me. The only reason you’d come to me is if you had a problem you couldn’t go to someone else you knew. Someone who was a Friend of Humanity. That limits what the problem could be by, like, a lot. That and you were hiding your face from me. You were bashful before, but you never looked away from me.”

“But mutant is a big jump isn’t it? Couldn’t it have been something more mundane?” Josh asks.

Kitty nods, “I suppose, but you see, mutants have been on my mind.” She walks over to him, walking through the coffee table in the process, “You see? I’ve recently realized I’m a mutant too.” Josh’s eyes widen in surprise. Kitty continues, “So, you can take your hood off. Whatever you look like, I won’t judge you for it.” Josh hesitantly pulls the hood off, revealing his golden sheen. Kitty walks up to him, “Huh. I was expecting you to look more… monstrous.”

Josh laughs, “I… guess I picked the right house didn’t I?”

Kitty nods, “Totally. Wait here, I’m gonna get my parents. And don’t worry, they already know about me.”

Josh sighs, “Do you think they’ll send me away?”

Kitty shakes her head, “I think I’m going to, like, ask them for a foster brother.”

Josh’s eyes widen, “Why would you do that for me?”

Kitty looks up into his eyes, “Because I know what it felt like when I first realized I was a mutant. I was lucky, my parents supported me. But we both know your parents wouldn’t support you right?” Josh looking down in defeat is all the answer Kitty needs. “You’re a cool guy. And, like, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a brother.”

Josh shakes his head, “Aren’t you jumping the gun a bit?”

Kitty grins, “To be honest, I’m relieved. I thought I was going to have to keep pretending during our tutoring sessions while being wary of letting you know anything about me.”

Josh looks down, “Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

Despite what Kitty said, Josh pulls his hood over his head. Kitty still looks human, he doesn’t know what her parents will think of someone who doesn’t.

Though the wait is only a few minutes, each tick of the analog clock on the wall feels like an eternity. Despite this, Josh stares at it. Since somehow not looking at it makes the wait excruciatingly longer.

He hears the steps from the stairs first, then the soft talking afterwards, though he can’t make it out. “Josh?” A woman, probably Kitty’s mom, asks. Josh realizes that he’s never actually met Kitty’s parents, and here he is at their house, probably begging for their help.

“Hello. I’m sorry to wake you up this late. If I’m being a bother, I can just go.” Josh says nervously.

An older man, Kitty’s father Josh assumes, grins at him, “Oh, you teenagers are always a bother.”

Josh isn’t sure what makes him smile more, the tasteless joke or the glare Kitty’s mother gives her husband. He’s pretty sure his presence is the only reason she isn’t whacking him upside the head. “What he means to say is, its no bother. Once Kitty explained your situation, we were only too glad to at least come speak with you.”

Josh sighs, “Then you aren’t going to help me?”

Kitty’s mom walks over to him, “I don’t know that I can. If we were to keep you here, even with your permission, that could be interpreted as kidnapping. And if what Kitty says about how you look is true, then I’m sure you can’t go home. Kitty’s situation is a bit different, after all, she still looks like she used to. And then, there’s the rest of our safety to consider. I doubt the Friends of Humanity would react well to humans harboring a mutant, especially a mutant who used to be one of their own.”

Each statement hits Josh with its truth. Just being here would put them all in danger even if Kitty wasn’t also a mutant. Add that fact in, and well, he can’t do that to them.

Kitty’s mom puts a hand on his shoulder, “You look tense. Don’t give up yet. I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you, I just said I’m not sure that I can. There’s a difference. Don’t go off being a reckless teenager thinking you're protecting us!”

Josh can’t help but smile. He isn’t sure whether Kitty gets her intellect from her mother or her father, but he’s pretty sure they are both really smart people. “Thank you Mrs. Pryde.”

Kitty’s mom waves him off, “Please, call me Theresa. And please, take off that hoodie! You shouldn’t be ashamed of things you can’t control. There are enough things for us to be ashamed of that we can without adding more to the fire!”

Josh smiles and, rather than simply pulling the hood down, he pulls the hoodie off entirely, revealing the t-shirt he’s wearing underneath, and that the gold does in fact cover his entire body.

Kitty’s dad whistles, “Wow. You certainly picked a looker.”

Josh blushes at that, or at least, he thinks he does. He’s not actually sure he can blush with his new skin tone, a thought that amuses him. Meanwhile, Theresa glares at her husband again, “Carmen, if you have nothing productive to say, please just stop talking.”

Carmen Pryde can definitely blush, but he still has a comeback for his wife, and Josh is certain they play this game often. “I am lightening the mood dear. Josh seems tense. Some lighthearted banter will do him good.” He grins at Josh, “See? The boy is relaxing already.” He raises his eyebrow, “Or at least distracted by a different worry.”

Kitty shakes her head, “Sorry about that Josh. My dad likes to think he’s a joker.”

Josh smiles, “It’s actually being helpful.”

Carmen grins, “There we go! Glad I could help.” He turns to Theresa who is shooting him an expression that’s somehow both annoyed and amused all at once. “So, since we’re all going to be up all night, let me make us some coffee.” He turns to Josh and Kitty, “Unless you two would rather have soda?”

Josh nods, “I’d like that.”

Kitty grins, “You know I love your coffee daddy.”

Carmen smiles and then walks into the kitchen, while Theresa turns to them. “Please sit down. You see, there may be something we can do, but it is a big decision. Something that has the potential to change your life even more than it’s already changed.”

Kitty blinks at her, “Change his life how?”

Theresa motions for her daughter to sit down as well, “Change both of yours actually. I didn’t mean to hide this from you, we intended to tell you after we’d done a bit more research into it, but Josh’s appearance has put some things into perspective for me. We should wait for your father before we continue.”

Kitty and Josh look at each other before looking at Theresa. They both know that there will be no further discussion until Carmen gets back. Kitty because she knows her mother, and Josh because he can read it all over her features.

Fortunately, it’s only a little while later when Carmen returns with three cups of coffee and a can of cola for Josh. “It’s put things into perspective for both of us.” Carmen says. “But I’ll let you continue dear.”

Theresa nods, “While you were at school today, we got a very strange phone call. It was about you and your future. The man said he was the head of an institute for mutants. Well, I suppose he didn’t say for mutants exactly, but that’s the only thing he could mean. He seemed to have a very good grasp of what was going on, too good actually, which is why we were hesitant to bring it up until we’d done some research, or at least, given it some more thought.”

She shakes her head, “But, Josh’s situation makes me think that perhaps we should hear him out. The fact of the matter is that though his knowledge of our situation was uncanny, it was also true. And with people like the Friends of Humanity around, there’s only so much we can do to keep you safe. This holds doubly true for you Josh, since there’s no way we could reasonably hide how you look, and in any case, your parents would undoubtedly come searching for you after only a few days.”

Josh has a sudden realization, “What about the kid?”

The Prydes look at him strangely, “Kid?” Theresa asks.

Josh sighs, “Yeah. There was a kid. Probably a mutant like us, or at least, he had powers. He’s the reason I realized I’m a mutant.”

Theresa thins her eyes at him, “And that’s his fault now?”

Josh shakes his head, “No, I just mean, shouldn’t we try and find him?”

Theresa sighs, “Do you have any idea who it was? What he looks like?” Josh looks down, and then resignedly shakes his head. “Then unfortunately there’s nothing we can do. Aside of the fact that we can’t go around accusing random boys of being mutants, say we did find him? The act of searching for him could lead people like the Friends of Humanity straight to his doorstep.”

Josh sighs, “Oh… I suppose you’re right.”

Kitty puts a hand on Josh’s shoulder, “I know. It, like, totally sucks that we can’t help him.”

Josh looks at them, “But there isn’t anything we can do, is there?”

Carmen raises his head, “There may not be anything we can do for this mystery boy, but there is something we can do. We were given a number to call the man back on. We can at least do that.”

Theresa nods, “And we should. Perhaps this is a bit convenient, but I feel the situation couldn’t get much worse.” She looks at Josh, “But, just in case this is some kind of setup? Perhaps you should put on your hoodie and wait in the other room?”

Josh sighs, “I guess I should.”

Carmen stands up, “Come with me. And don’t even think about running away.” He grins, “I used to be an army tracker, so don’t think I couldn’t find a boy. Especially a boy with gold colored skin!”

Josh smiles, “You’re gonna help me whether I want it or not?”

Carmen nods, “You’re darn tootin!”

While he leads Josh upstairs, Theresa pulls out her cell phone. She has no reason not to use it as it was the phone she’d been called on to begin with, and calls the number. It takes a moment for it to ring, “Hello. Mrs. Pryde?” The voice is the same voice as when she was called earlier.

“Yes. I wish to discuss your proposal.” She says.

“Excellent! When are you available?” He says.

She looks at Kitty, “Well, I understand this is short notice, but, is there any way we could discuss it over the phone? You see, we’re in a bit of a time crunch.”

“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, we can speak in person right now.” He says.

“Right now?” She is again suspicious.

That’s when there’s a knock on the front door, “Yes. One of my students and I are now on your front porch as we speak.”

She walks over to the front door and sure enough, there is a bald man in a wheelchair and a girl with short red hair standing on their front porch. The man even has a phone to his ear, “I understand your cation Mrs. Pryde. I can only try and assure you that we mean you no harm. We only wish to help, and if you ask us to leave, we will do so immediately. With no further questions asked.”

She thinks for a moment, then she thinks about Josh and sighs. She realizes this is a huge risk, and that sometimes things are too good to be true. But at the same time, this is so specific. And so much of what’s happened couldn’t reasonably be predicted by anyone. This leads her to think that the chances that this are an elaborate prank or trick is unlikely. And, in any case, she’s already come this far. True, she wasn’t expecting to talk to them in person that night, but perhaps that’s for the best. Josh doesn’t have time to wait after all, and when she thinks about it, she wouldn’t be comfortable waiting with Kitty either.

Even if the Friends of Humanity never discover the truth, it’s only a matter of time before Sentinels come to this town, and once that happens, Kitty won’t be able to hide anymore. So she sighs and opens the door.

She stares as the wheelchair hovers over the entryway. The red head looks around and smiles at her, as if levitating wheelchairs are nothing special. Though it occurs to Theresa, that perhaps in their world, it isn’t. “Hi there! Nice place.” The girl says as she holds out her hand for a handshake.

Theresa takes it, “Thank you. So… You are mutants then?”

The man nods, “Yes. And I happen to know that your daughter is one as well. The only reason I wasn’t more clear on the phone is that I happen to know that the Friends of Humanity have used wiretapping technology in other places and have even hijacked cell phone signals before. I didn’t want to compromise what we are trying to do here.”

Theresa’s face whitens, “It’s that serious?” She’s asking more rhetorically though. She already knows it’s more serious than that.

The man nods, “Yes, however, since we’re here, we no longer have to worry about that.” He holds out his hand, “My name is Charles Xavier, and this is my student, Jean Grey.”

Jean is shutting the door as she waves and says, “Nice to meetcha.”

After the door is shut, Charles speaks, “And you don’t have to worry about anyone knowing we’re here. As far as anyone knows, no one came to the front of your house, and the door was never opened.”

Theresa blinks, “You can do that?”

Jean grins, “It’s a perception thing. Cool huh?”

Theresa shakes her head, “I’m not sure cool is the word.”

Charles nods, “I understand your reticence. But given the situation, I didn’t see much alternative.”

Theresa nods, “I understand. It’s just, strange to think that people with that kind of power exist.”

“I understand, and I am willing to discuss the ethics of power at length if you wish, but I think we have more pressing concerns.” Charles says.

Theresa turns towards the living room, “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

Kitty perks up with the three of them enter the room. “Is that Katherine?”

“Kitty.” Kitty says.

Charles smiles at her, “Kitty it is then.”

Theresa turns to Kitty, “Can you speak with them? I’m going to get Josh.”

Kitty raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure its safe?”

Theresa nods, “Absolutely.” She then steps out of the room.

Now left alone with these two strangers, Kitty can’t help but wonder. Despite the fact that she doesn’t know them at all, she isn’t wary of them either. The red head seems easy going, while the man seems, wise perhaps?

“Josh?” Charles asks.

Kitty scrutinizes him, “Josh is another mutant.” She says.

Charles eyes widen, “Another mutant you say?”

Jean’s eyes widen, “You think he’s the one you sensed?”

“Sensed?” Kitty asks.

Charles smiles, “I’m sorry, Jean can get ahead of herself. But I suppose now is as good a time as any. Yes, sensed. We have a technology that lets us sense mutants. That’s how we found you. Now what Jean is talking about is that with some mutants we can’t pinpoint the exact person in question, only their general area.”

Kitty thinks for a moment, “Then Josh is incredibly powerful?”

Charles blinks, “If he’s the one of which we speak, then yes. I’m surprised you picked that up. I didn’t want to scare you. Or measure you against anyone else.”

Kitty smiles at him, “Its no problem. I’m just trying to get a handle on this being a mutant thing.”

Jean grins at her, “Hey Charles. Can you let me talk to her for a bit? You can prepare what to say to the rents while I talk to Kitty. Girl to girl.”

Charles blinks for a moment, “Perhaps that’s a good idea. This will also let me discuss this Josh’s situation.”

Kitty turns to him, “You think you can help Josh?”

Charles smiles, “My hope is to help you both.”

Kitty nods and then brings Jean into the kitchen. “So, was I boring you?”

Jean shakes her head, “Nah. I just wanted to talk to you. You seem like a smart girl. You already know the score. I just wanted to see if we got along.”

Kitty smiles, “Ah. Like, scoping out the competition?”

Jean laughs, “Ooh! We’ve got a feisty one! I like it.” She shakes her head, “But no. This isn’t a competition. It’s more like, we’re there for each other. But that doesn’t mean we always get along. Thing is, the only other girl there is like six years older than me. It’d be nice to have a little more estrogen in my age range.”

Kitty tilts her head to the side, “So, there’s a bunch of boys?”

Jean nods, “Not a bunch, just 4. Don’t get me wrong! They’re nice, and good eye candy. And I know at least one of them is gay. Suspect a second, and am dating the third anyway, so breast staring that’s unappreciated is kept to a minimum.” She elbows Kitty, “But ya know. Sometimes a girl has stuff she’d rather not discuss with a dude.”

Kitty smiles, “I, like, totally understand.”

Jean raises an eyebrow, “So. Speaking of dudes. Is there a story between you and this Josh?”

Kitty laughs, “I’ve only known him a few days. And, like, he’s cute. But… I kinda feel like we’re gonna be more like family, ya know? I feel protective of him, like he’s my brother. And though he’s made some hints that he thinks I’m attractive, I dunno, he just doesn’t seem like he’s into me like that. It was more like… a friendly jab than a come on line.”

Kitty frowns, “And the truth is, I don’t think either of us is in a good place for a relationship. We both just realized we’re mutants, and he, well-” Kitty looks at Jean, “I don’t want to say too much, cause it’s Josh’s story to tell, but let’s just say his family is not mutant friendly.”

Jean sighs, “Gotcha. But your family is?”

“So far anyway. But I don’t know. It’s been one thing after another, so I don’t know how much time they’ve had to think about it.” Kitty says. “What about you?”

Jean smiles, “My parents are happy I’m here. But I spent a couple of years in a mental hospital, so, I think the idea that this was the result of their daughter’s budding super powers was relieving compared to the idea that I was just plain nuts.”

Kitty’s eyes widen, “You seem rather blasse about that.”

Jean smiles, “More like, I’ve got the support I need. Coping mechanisms and all that. If I’ve learned anything from my experiences, its that you gotta talk about them or they’ll kill ya.”

Kitty nods, “I’ll take that to heart.”

**Meanwhile**

Josh isn’t sure he’s happy or not when he sees that Kitty isn’t in the room when Carmen brings him downstairs. Theresa is sitting in a chair, next to a middle aged bald man in a wheelchair. He sighs in relief when he hears Kitty laugh in the kitchen. She’s still there if he needs her.

The man in the wheelchair looks up at him as he approaches, “Hello. You must be Josh.”

Josh nods, “Yes sir.”

The man’s smile puts him at ease somehow, “I am Charles Xavier, and though I’m quite comfortable being referred to in any way that’s comfortable for you, you don’t have to call me sir if you don’t want to.”

Josh smiles sheepishly, “Thank you, uh, Charles.”

Charles continues, “So, I’m going to take a stab at your situation. You have recently realized you are a mutant, and judging from your outfit, at some point your mutation manifested an overt physiological change. How am I doing so far?”

Josh nods, “Yeah.”

Charles’ face flattens, “If your family are members of the Friends of Humanity as I suspect, that would prove to be a problem indeed.”

Josh’s eyes widen, “How did you know?”

“It was an educated guess. You aren’t the first wayward soul I’ve rescued, and while I haven’t had a mutant that was formerly connected to an anti-mutant organization, I’ve always known it was only a matter of time before that happened.” Charles sighs, “I’m not going to lie to you Josh. Your life is going to change. I came here to make Kitty an offer, but for you it is much more important. However, it’s also not so simple.

“You see, I am running an institute for mutants. Consider it like a combination school and safe haven. Though I would love to invite you, there is a complication. So far, I’ve either adopted, or easily been able to get the permission of the parents, in order to get them to the institute.” He turns to Carmen and Theresa, “That is why I came here, to get your permission for Kitty to come with me. If she wants to, of course.” He turns to Josh, “But Josh’s situation is different. And there are options, but some of them are more ethically questionable.”

Theresa turns to him, “What do you mean exactly?”

Charles nods, “Well, the best case scenario, we speak to his parents and his parents allow him to come. Perhaps a more realistic, but still not entirely bad, scenario has them signing over their rights. Now the complication here is, we’d rather remain anonymous. In fact, ideally they wouldn’t even be made aware that Josh is a mutant at all, but that makes any of the above methods unfeasible.”

Theresa’s eyes thin, “None of that seems particularly unethical.”

Charles nods again, “Indeed, those are the best case scenarios. However, we cannot leave Josh in his present situation if at all possible. It would only be a matter of time before Josh was either killed or worse. The other options available to us are more questionable.

“The simplest solution would probably be to fake his death, and assuming no one else has seen you in your present state? May be the most practical and least potentially problematic solution. The problems would really only fall on you. If we do this, there’s no going back. Though you could keep your name, there must be more than one person with your name in the world after all, it would be very difficult for you to keep any connection to your old life.” Charles says.

Josh sighs, “And the other solutions?”

Charles expression hardens, “Without going into details, let’s just say that I have a number of both mundane and supernatural ways of making you disappear, but I’d greatly prefer to utilize none of them.” He turns to Theresa, “Keeping my charges safe is my utmost concern. The state of the country makes that impossible to do while maintaining an entirely up and up organization. I don’t mean to be secretive, but it’s probably in your own interest if there are certain things you aren’t aware of.”

Theresa sighs, “I’d like to say shame on you.” She looks towards the kitchen, then towards Josh. “But I think I understand where you are coming from. The reason I called you was because I had no idea what could be done for Josh. And when I think about it? There is no guaranteed way to keep him, or Kitty for that matter, safe. And certainly none that don’t involve at least some amount of deception.”

Charles nods, “So, the question really comes down to this. What do you want Josh?”

Josh sighs, “I… can’t return home. My parents… they’d… they’d expect me to sacrifice myself for the cause. And if they didn’t, my friends, well, former friends, definitely would.”

Charles looks up at him, “Then do you think you could handle having an entirely new identity? With your current persona being dead?”

Josh thinks for a moment, “I… My current life is over anyway.”

Charles thinks for a moment, “Do you want to keep your name?”

Josh sighs, then nods, “Josh Foley.”

Charles nods, “Well then, Josh Foley, I believe that can be arranged.”

He then turns to Theresa, “So, about Kitty.”

Theresa turns to Carmen, “What do you think?”

Carmen nods, “I think we’ve already made our decision.” He turns to Charles, “If Kitty is willing, we’ll let her go with you. We just, we just want our daughter to be safe.” His eyes then gleam, “And I can think of no one better suited to the job. Right captain?”

Charles scrutinizes Carmen for a moment, “Wait, Private Pryde?”

Carmen salutes, “One and the same.”

Josh and Theresa blink at them, “You two know each other?” Theresa asks.

Carmen nods, “Remember the Captain I told you about right when we first got married?”

Theresa turns to Charles, “You mean, this is him?”

Carmen smiles, “I wasn’t sure at first, it’s been a long time after all. But it was too much of a coincidence. Same name, same voice, same frustratingly zen attitude. If we can’t trust him with Kitty’s safety, we can’t trust anybody with it.”

Charles smiles, “I’m glad you found your happiness. I will do everything I can to ensure Kitty finds hers.” He turns to Josh, “And you find yours.”

Jean and Kitty walk into the room a moment later, “So, Prof. Are we going with plan A?”

Charles turns to Kitty, “That depends. Will you come with us Kitty?”

Kitty nods, “Yeah. To risky here.”

Charles nods, “Then we should get them out of town as soon as possible. Jean, you can get Josh and Kitty aboard from the Pryde’s back yard. I will handle the rest.” He turns to Carmen and Theresa as Jean leads Kitty and Josh outside, “So, the last order of business is what to do about you. If you want, I can alter your memories so you won’t be aware of what’s happened to Kitty. She could be at a boarding school, or with friends of the family. Or, if you wish, you can make something up yourself.”

Theresa blinks, “Alter our memories?”

Charles nods, “I am a telepath. If you don’t know, that means I have the ability to read and alter thoughts, memories, and other aspects of the mind. I will not alter your thoughts without your permission, however, it may be easier for you if you don’t know the truth about your daughter.”

Theresa and Carmen look at each other and then turn to Charles, “I understand why you might think that.” Theresa starts…

“But we’re proud of our daughter. And, how can we help you if you need it if we don’t know what’s going on?” Carmen finishes.

Theresa smiles, “We’ll tell everybody that Kitty has transferred to a new school. Since she wasn’t sure she was going to get in, she was keeping it quiet, and she was so excited when she got the news that she wanted to leave immediately.”

Carmen smiles, “That is something akin to the truth right?”

Charles smiles back, “Indeed.” He shakes Carmen’s hand, “It was nice to see you again Carmen.” He then shakes Theresa’s, “And it was a pleasure to meet you.”

Theresa nods, “The same.”

After bidding the Pryde’s farewell, Charles wheels himself out into the back yard before feeling the familiar sensation of Jean levitating him into the jet. Kitty and Josh are staring at Piotr, who is in his metallic form, and Josh seems relaxed. Charles knows that Josh’s transition into being a mutant will perhaps be the most difficult yet. But when he sees Jean, Piotr, Scott and Kitty sitting around him, he feels a sense of pride in his students, and has a feeling Josh is going to be alright.”

**The Next Night**

Duncan watches the boy levitating empty soda cans around. Though it’s far later at night, the boy has returned to the same place. A foolish thing to do, but Duncan isn’t surprised. People do tend to follow their routines, and mutants, though they aren’t people, still have that particular quirk. He also must feel pretty safe, given his powers, but this time Duncan is ready, “Are you in position.” He whispers into his head gear.

“Check.” Nicole responds. A number of others also check in. The first time, it had only been the three of them who’d encountered him. The other Reavers were patrolling other parts of town. This time, they brought the entire squad to take him down. After what happened before, Duncan is taking no chances.

“Now remember, I’m going to fire first. In the likely chance that he realizes and stops it, Nicole fires second. If that doesn’t work, taking him down is more important than keeping him alive.” Duncan says. He then takes aim with his tranquilizer pistol and fires.

Sure enough, the boy turns and stops the dart a few feet from him. Duncan’s eyes widen as he sees the boys eyes glow blue. But before the boy can zero in on him, he turns around, presumably to stop Nicole’s dart from the other side of the alleyway. That’s when Duncan starts firing as rapidly as he can.

Duncan’s eyes widen as more and more darts come from nearly every direction forming a sphere of them around his head. He wishes they could being actual ordinance, but if a bunch of teenage members of the Friends of Humanity were caught walking around town with assault rifles, well, the fools would consider them the terrorists. But watching a single boy stop a firing squad worth of tranquilizer darts reinforces everything his parents said about how dangerous mutants are.

Fortunately, the boy’s ability doesn’t last until they run out of ammo, and one of the darts hits home. Two more hit him as he falls and, given the boy’s size, Duncan is sure he won’t survive the night. Of course, he wasn’t going to survive the night anyway.

He and Nicole are the closest to him, and so are the first to walk up to his unconscious body, “Josh wasn’t at school today.” Nicole says as they gather the darts so they can more safely move the body.

Duncan nods, “I know.”

Nicole shakes her head, “Do you think he’s run away because he’s a mutant?”

Duncan thinks for a moment, “I don’t know. I can tell you what I don’t believe: I don’t believe for a second that he’s dead. Despite what those people down by the river say. No one who could heal me the way he did is going to die from falling into a river.”

Nicole’s eyes thin, “And there isn’t a body. We can’t confirm he’s dead until we know there’s a body.”

Duncan shakes his head, “There was another conspicuous absence today. Kitty Pryde.”

Nicole nodes, “Even more conspicuous considering that they just recently met. Even if she was his tutor, he liked her rather quickly.”

Duncan nods, “And Josh wasn’t the type to pretend to like a girl just to get in her pants. He must have genuinely liked her.”

Nicole backs up as a pair of guys pick up the kid, “You know what to do.” She says to them, earning a nod in return. She turns back to Duncan, “What should we do?”

Duncan shrugs, “There isn’t anything we can do. The Friends of Humanity aren’t going to start a nationwide search for two teenagers. And I have a feeling that, if they can’t make an example out of him, Josh’s parents will distance themselves from him. Allow his death to be the real story.”

Nicole nods, “Less embarrassing than having a mutant son.”

Duncan looks at her, “Isn’t that what you would do?”

Nicole shrugs, “Probably. It just goes to show, mutants could be anywhere.”

Duncan goes and starts to check over the area to make sure there is no trace of the fact that they were there. Content that they’ve properly covered their tracks, Duncan and Nicole leave the alley.

**The Next Day**

The news caster is as grim as Josh feels. “It is a dark day in Deerfield, Illinois as the body of one young man, Haley Samual, was found strung up. Signs stating that ‘This is what happens to mutants!’ point to the Friends of Humanity as possible culprits, but as of yet there have been no arrests.”

Josh wishes he couldn’t believe it, but the truth is, as horrified as he is, he’s not surprised. Josh isn’t sure whether he wants to watch the rest. He’s sure he knows what happened, and the thought that he ever considered the Reavers his friends makes him sick to his stomach.

“That’s what they’d do to you huh?” Kitty says from where she’s sitting next to him. They’d checked the news to see if there was something about Josh’s alleged death. This is not what they’d expected to find.

Josh shakes his head, “To both of us.”

“We can’t let them win.” Scott’s voice rings out.

Josh and Kitty turn to face him, “What do you mean?” Kitty asks.

Scott moves over and sits on a couch opposite the one they are sitting on, “We can’t let what they did drive us to act like them. We’d only be proving them right. Be angry at the world for being the way it is. Be angry at the people who did this for being horrible. But, don’t let yourself be angry with humans. Don’t let yourself start to see everyone else as the enemy.”

Josh looks down, “I don’t want to see anyone as the enemy.”

Scott walks over and puts a supportive hand on Josh’s shoulder, “I wish it were that simple. I wish we didn’t have enemies.” He motions to the television, “But we clearly do.” He turns back to Josh, “But we have friends too, and not all of them are mutants. Just remember that okay?”

Josh nods, “I’ll try.”

Kitty looks at Scott, "I have one question though. Charles said you have technology that lets you detect mutants." She motions to the television screen, "Why didn't it detect that boy?"

Scott sighs, "I can't say. I don't understand how it works, and regardless, it isn't foolproof."

Josh sighs, "Or, he might not have even been a mutant." He looks into his lap, "Just a kid with powers in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yeah." Scott puts a hand on Josh's shoulder, "Josh, I want you to know that I'm here for you. I'm not going to patronize you by saying I understand what you're thinking or feeling. I'm sure I can't understand. But, I still want to help you any way I can. And I know Jean, Ororo, Logan and Piotr feel the same way."

Kitty sighs, "Life's just, like, totally unfair."

Scott nods, "Definitely."


	3. 2.3 Rogue Links

“It’s nice having you home.” Neil Warren says to his brother, Pierce, as he hands him the peas.

“It’s nice to be home.” Pierce says, with a smile as he takes the peas with his hands.

Neil raises a hairless eyebrow, “Using your hands now?”

Pierce shrugs, “I’ve just gotten used to doing it. Not a great idea to announce you’re a mutant out there.”

“Is it really that bad?” Neil asks.

Pierce nods, “It’s probably worse than you think.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Neil asks.

Pierce sighs, “I hope so, but it doesn’t matter.”

Neil’s eyes widen, “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”

“I’m going back regardless. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here.” He turns to their parents, “No offense dad.”

Avery Warren gives his son a small smile, “None taken. You wouldn’t be the first person to leave here upon growing up.”

Monica Warren just laughs, “You were always looking through the fence as a kid. And then you’d look at the sky. We knew this was coming before you did.”

Neil sighs, “But, you’re coming back right?”

Pierce grins and rubs Neil’s hairless head, “As if you could keep me away.”

Neil pushes his hand off, “I take it back. Go back to college.”

Pierce rubs Neil’s head again and Neil keeps ineffectually pushing his hand away, while both their parents laugh. The times of Pierce making fun of Neil were long over. All that’s left is playful banter.

They are starting to calm down when, without warning, a red beam of light blasts though the ceiling in the adjacent room, cutting their living room in half. “Get Neil out of here!” Avery yells as another red beam cuts through the house perpendicular to the first, stopping just barely into the kitchen.

Pierce grabs Neil and runs. Neil looks back, only so see his parents cut in half by another beam before Pierce yanks him out of the house.

Neil is barely running as the memory of his parents dying right before his eyes plays in slow motion in his head. It’s more that Pierce is pulling him and his body is moving itself just enough to keep him from face planting into the sidewalk.

The run is only a few hundred yards. A few blocks to a movie theater. A minute or so at most, and yet so much happens. Its times like these that Neil wishes he wasn’t as ware as he is. That he didn’t have such finely tuned senses, aware of every little detail. Overhead, an army of Sentinels crisscrosses over the city, shooting red beams as people run. Even just running down the street he’s seen too many things he wishes he could forget. Houses cut apart. Friends dying. Each sight cuts into him like a white hot knife.

Then they are in an alleyway between two buildings. Pierce turns around to face him and his form changes into a different person completely. His olive skin becomes a dark sea blue/green color. His short dark hair becomes shoulder length reddish brown hair and even his clothing changes from jeans and a black t-shirt to a form fitting white armless, legless, one piece.

Once the transformation is done, the only thing that remains of Pierce is that the woman who had been transformed into him is almost the same height. “I’m sorry Neil. This is exactly what Pierce wanted me to protect you from.” She says.

Neil blinks at her, “Pierce sent you?” Aside of momentary surprise that she isn’t his brother, he’s unperturbed by the woman’s change.

The woman nods, “I’d explain, but we don’t have much time. While the Sentinels won’t sense either of us, there is a chance they will attack here regardless.”

Neil nods, “Okay.”

As she turns and heads towards the far side of the alleyway, she transforms back into Pierce. His voice is actually a tad higher pitched than hers, though hers is distinctly more feminine, “My name is Raven.”

Neil follows her, “Thank you for saving me.”

Raven looks out the other end of the alleyway, to find the street strewn with dead bodies and pieces of broken vehicles, but devoid of life. “I owed your brother a favor. I only wish there had been something I could have done for your parents.” She says as she runs out of the alley, checking behind her every so often to make sure Neil is keeping up.

The both of them turn and look up upon hearing a sound and Raven pulls Neil into another alleyway so that the Sentinel can fly overhead. They remain silent until it passes, “You have a good sense of what’s around you.” Raven notes.

Neil stares, “Shouldn’t it be able to sense you?”

Raven shakes her head, “My power seems to make my DNA in some sort of flux.”

Neil nods, “Oh.” That makes perfect sense really. He wonders if the same thing is true of any of the shapeshifters that live here? He hopes someone survives, but given the carnage around him, that’s seeming less and less likely.

Raven leads Neil out of the alleyway towards the south western gate of the community. As the area already seems to have been cleared, the Sentinels have moved elsewhere, though they still move out of view when the odd Sentinel flies overhead.

“Even if the Sentinels aren’t hunting you, it’s not safe for you here.” She says at one such time. Neil simply nods in response, having already come to the same conclusion. “There is a reason I’m leading you in this direction.”

Neil thinks for a moment, “You want me to hide in the small outcropping of trees just outside of town?”

Raven nods, “Yes. I’m glad you have a good head on your shoulders. That will be important as I won’t be leaving town with you.”

Neil sighs, “What should I do?” He doesn’t bother to state the obvious, that his parents are dead and thus he has nowhere to go. He knows she’s well aware of that.

“There is a place you can go.” She says, deciding to test him further. Thus far, he’s been insightful and intelligent, but also a bit trusting.

Neil thinks for a moment, “The Xavier institute?” He guesses.

Raven nods, “As I recall, didn’t Charles Xavier promise your parents he’d take care of you and Pierce if anything happened to you?”

Neil nods, “Yes, but that was years ago. And how do you know about that?”

“Pierce told me, and I know Charles. He will not go back on his promise. He will do whatever he can to make sure you are safe, especially now that you are an orphan.” Raven says.

Hearing the word orphan used to describe him makes everything hit home. His parents are dead. Raven shakes him a bit, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have time to mourn now. You have to escape here.”

Neil shakes his head. She’s right, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

It doesn’t take them very long to reach the gate, which they find shut. Neil runs to the gatehouse but finds the guard isn’t there.

“This might prove to be a problem.” Raven says.

Neil shakes his head and pulls out his keycard, “I should be able to open the gate.” He says. He then inputs his password, and sighs in relief when it’s accepted and he hears the familiar sound of the gate starting to open.

He looks at her, looks at his key card, and then hands it to her. “I, doubt I’ll have any reason to come back here.” He looks down, “I guess I doubt there will even be a here to come back to.”

Raven nods and takes the keycard, “You’re probably right, but is there a specific reason you’re giving me this?”

Neil sighs, “You can move freely around here. You can open the other gates. Get as many people as you can to safety, can’t you?”

“I can’t make any promises.” She says.

Neil nods, “I know.” He turns back to her as he leaves the gatehouse, “Thank you for saving my life.”

Raven nods, “Please, be careful. I’d hate for my efforts to go to waste.” Neil nods again in response before heading towards the gate.

Raven watches Neil leave through the gate and head out into the night. She waits until he’s disappeared into the trees before she looks down at the keycard and smiles. This is a fortuitous event she hadn’t anticipated, but it will make her next job easier. She takes the card, puts it into the slot and then uses the password to shut the gate. As she watches the gate shut she crushes the card in her fist, and then for good measure, she puts it into a paper shredder that is sitting on the floor of the gatehouse.

A moment later Pierce’s form melts away and a Sentinel Task Force officer is walking out of the gate house towards where the Sentinels can be seen in the distance, raining down red beams of death.

**Meanwhile**

Running towards an army of giant killer robots is not Rogue’s idea of a good time, but if it weren’t for Raven, she’d probably be dead. If nothing else, Raven was the one who’d given her the trench coat that keeps them from finding her. And it isn’t as if she’s been asked to go to the city or anything. Just to go through a forest and wait.

But there is something tantalizing too. Raven said that she’d find something that might help her find what she’s looking for. Since Rogue isn’t sure what she’s looking for, she’s skeptical, but Raven has an uncanny wisdom about her. The woman is almost never wrong.

Of course, a boy isn’t what she expected, but that’s who shows up. A shortish boy, or perhaps a tallish child. His build would suggest the former, but his lack of hair would suggest the latter.

She is kneeling in the shadows, and the boy hasn’t noticed her yet, but it’s also too much of a coincidence. Him appearing exactly where Raven told her to wait, so she decides to test him, “Raven?”

The boy turns and faces her wide eyed with fear, but she notices a stance at the ready. He’s surprised and afraid, but he’s not paralyzed. She’s certain if she makes a move he’ll run for it. “Y, you, know Raven?” He asks cautiously.

She nods, “Ai do. So let’s get outta here, shall we?”

The boy walks over to her cautiously, “So you were waiting here for her?”

Rogue wasn’t specifically waiting for Raven, though that seems as plausible an explanation as any. And the truth is, that was the primary thing she assumed until this boy walked up, “Yeah.”

The boy lets out a sigh, “Any ideas where to go?”

She shrugs, “Anywhere’s better n’ here.”

The boy nods, “I guess. I may have a place we can go.” He looks at her, “Are you a mutant?”

Her eyes thin, “What’s it to ya?”

The boy puts his hands up in surrender, “Nothing, nothing. It’s just the place I was talking about is pretty hush hush. Mutant safe haven and all that.”

Rogue looks at him, and that’s when she realizes it’s not that he has less hair, he doesn’t seem to have any hair, at least that she can see. And since he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts, that’s a lot. The only reason she didn’t notice immediately is that his head is covered with a white rimmed cap, but he doesn’t seem to have any hair coming from under that either. “Ai take it you’re a mutant too?”

He shakes his head, “No. But everyone else in my family is.” He looks down for a moment, and it almost looks to Rogue like he’s going to cry, “Almost everyone I know was.”

Rogue thinks now is probably not the best time to ask what happened to his hair, so she starts heading back the way she came, “Come on. We’d betta’ get a move on.” The boy nods in response.

The two of them don’t say much as they walk, only whisper to direct each other. Rogue quickly finds that the boy knows the woods far better than her and defers to him. It isn’t as if that’s particularly surprising, considering he lives nearby. She is a few states north west of where she was born.

They have a few scares as a Sentinel flies overhead, but in both cases it pays them no mind. Rogue isn’t exactly sure how long it takes them to sneak through the forest. The boy is being very cautious, taking his time, but she has no place to be and, given that the military could be around, the caution is probably warranted.

The issue comes when they run out of trees, as after that there’s grassland as far as the eyes can see. “What should we do now?” The boy asks.

Rogue looks at him, “Ya’ the one who lives here.”

He sighs, and looks around. “We haven’t seen any military aside of the Sentinels. Maybe we’re home free?”

Rogue raises an eyebrow at him, “Do ya really believe tha’?”

He shakes his head, “I guess it doesn’t matter does it? If we’re gonna go, better to go now than wait until morning.”

Rogue nods, “That’s true.”

Both Rogue and the boy start to move, as quietly and swiftly as they can. Rogue takes note that though his movements are rudimentary and untrained, this isn’t the first time he’s snuck around.

All they can hope is that anyone who looks their direction will think nothing of the two figures running through the grass. With no discussion, they both stop when they see a road. Neither one of them wants to get close enough that anyone driving would see more than a couple of shadows moving in the darkness of night.

“Come on.” The boy says before laying down in the grass.

Rogue raises an eyebrow but lays down next to him, “Tired?” She asks.

He shakes his head, “No. It’s just that we need to figure out where to go. If we’re laying down were less likely to be spotted by anything.”

Rogue raises an eyebrow at this. “Ahrite. So where is this mutant safe house of yours?”

He sighs, “That’s the problem. I think it’s in New York.”

“Ya think?” She asks.

He nods, “I know. If I’m remembering right, that still puts us half the country away.”

“Ya’ll know how to contact them?” She asks.

He shakes his head, “No.”

Rogue rolls onto her back, “Well that figures.”

He turns his head to look at her, “You sound less irritated than I thought you’d be.”

She snickers a little, “Not like Ai have anythin’ better. Or anywhere else to go.”

He rolls on his side, “So you know Raven?”

She turns her head to face him, “Yep. She saved me.”

He nods, “She saved me to...” His voice trails off.

“What is it?” She asks.

“Do you trust her?” He asks.

She shrugs, “Ai have reasons not to distrust her at least.”

He thinks for a moment, “But is that anything she did? Or just because you don’t trust most people?”

She laughs a little, “Little of column A. Little of column B.” Rogue thinks for a moment, “She saved me. But she’s done some underhanded things to get what she wants. Ai can’ complain though. In the end, Ai think she’s alrigh. Why’d you ask?”

He sighs, “She was hard to read. She seemed on the level, but she also so perfectly mimicked my brother that I don’t know if I can trust my impressions. I find that unsettling.”

Rogue nods, “Yeah. Ai get that. All Ai can say is she did save us, so she can’t be all bad right?”

He nods, “Yeah. I don’t think she’s bad. I just, hate not being able to predict what people will do.”

“Makes sense.” Rogue responds. She can tell he doesn’t know what to do, as much as he says he wants to go to this mutant safe haven, she’s pretty sure that’s the only place he can think of to go. Or, at least, the only place he feels like he can. She ponders what she thought about when she was in that position.

**Three Years Ago**

Running is the only thing she can think of. If she tries to think of anything else, her heart will burst, but as long as she’s running, she doesn’t have to think.

Of course, eventually she reaches her destination, her house, and has to stop running. And that’s when it all comes back to her. Cody is coming over. Cody, perfect, funny, friendly, boy next door good looks, athletic prowess everyone expects to go pro. And tonight is their date. That’s why she ran home. To get ready as soon as possible.

She takes a shower, and then takes what seems like forever to pick an outfit, but when she looks at the clock, only a few minutes have passed.

Watching T.V. doesn’t help, so she looks at her outfit in a mirror. Is white the right color? Will he think she’s thinking about weddings? Is she thinking about them? She hadn’t been when she chose the outfit. She just liked the white and thought it looked good on her, but now she can’t help but wonder if she was thinking about marriage, and the dress doesn’t look so great on her.

But she isn’t sure what else she’d wear, and except for the fact that it’s white, it looks great on her. It isn’t even a wedding dress. Or if it is, it’s a very boring one. No frills, no veil. It’s not even that billowy. So, maybe the whole wedding dress thing is just her being nervous.

She looks at the clock again and grumbles in frustration. He isn’t late, in fact, he’s not supposed to be there for a few minutes yet. But the anticipation is killing her. Each tick of the second hand feels like an eternity.

She continues obsessing like this over one thing or another while watching the clock until he gets there. Part of her wonders why she even bothered to take a shower. Her nervousness and anticipation have her almost as sweaty her run did. She’d take another shower, but he’s supposed to be there any minute.

The door bell snaps her out of her nervous tension and her body relaxes into a state of happiness. He’s here. And she’s right, it is him. He’s tall and strong and his smile is both handsome and beautiful. He’s a year or so older than her, but that just makes him cooler.

“Hello. May Ai come in?” He asks.

She laughs, “Maybe Ai should go out.” She says as she steps outside, “A lady has to have her secrets.” She’s not really serious. She’s just always wanted to say that.

He laughs, “Of course. My car is in front, but…” His expression gets a little sheepish, “Do you mind if Ai kiss you?”

She smiles at him, “Jus’ on the cheek for now.” He smiles and leans in and even just that is the most wonderful feeling. Cody Robbins wants to kiss her! And then when he does she feels this burst of exhilaration.

That’s when things become weird. The kiss lasts longer than she’d expect a kiss on the cheek to last. And the euphoria doesn’t go away. Then she gets flashes of running playing football, and she wonders when her next game is. Then she gets a flash of intense, indistinct feeling and it’s over. Cody falls over onto the porch next to her.

She looks down at him, and screams when she sees the expression on his face. It’s an expression she recognizes. A mirror of her own horrified expression. She can’t think, so she just runs.

An image of the girl he was about to go on a date with flashes into his mind. Then an image of the boy unconscious, but wide eyed on her porch. Different memories and images spin in his head. Different feelings flash though her.

The shock wearing off only makes things worse, as the two conflicting feelings begin to merge. He doesn’t know who she is. She can’t understand his own memories. Nor can he understand hers. Eventually she finds himself standing outside her school gym. He just stares, wondering why she’s there.

Then things start to fade. She begins to see that his memories and feelings aren’t hers. And then the realization hits her, she’s stolen them. And something else. Some very essence of what he is has been taken by her. The confusion lessens, but she still can’t quite make sense of it all. When the last memory of his flashes through her mind, it’s the pain of kissing her. Actual physical pain as he too feels her pulling something out of him. Something that never should be taken by another.

She stares up at the gym again and then turns. She sees her reflection in the mirror, wearing that white dress, and she finally screams before ripping it apart. She doesn’t care that she’s standing on a sidewalk next to her school. She doesn’t care that a car could drive past and see her wearing nothing but her undergarments. All she wants is that dress off of her. That stupid white dress that now represents nothing but regret.

**Now**

“What are you thinking about?” Neil asks.

She smiles wistfully, “Jus’ what it was like for me.”

He looks at her curiously. He doesn’t know what she’s referring to, but he’s pretty sure it’s in reference to him somehow. He just doesn’t know how. “Care to talk about it?”

She faces him, “What it was like for me when Ai first ran away.”

Neil’s eyes widen for a moment before he sighs, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry.”

She just laughs, “Nah. Tha’ was years ago. Ai’ve moved on.”

Neil can’t help but think she’s lying to herself, but then again, he’s pretty sure he’s doing the same thing. “Any suggestions for a first timer?”

She laughs, “Yah. Don’ go it alone.”

Neil reaches out to touch her shoulder but she flinches and he pulls his hand back. He was gonna make a comment about how he’s got that covered, but her response gives him pause. “Sorry.”

She shakes her head, “Don’t be.” She thinks for a moment, “Ai think you’ll get it. It’s not tha’ Ai’m afraid of you, or men, or anythin’ like tha’. My powaa hurts people Ai touch. An’ Ai can’ turn it off.”

Neil pulls his hand back, “Ah. No touchy. Check.” She isn’t the first mutant he’s known who had a similar power. He decides to change the subject, “Do you have any money?”

She turns to him, “Ai do. Why?”

Neil isn’t sure there’s a threat in her voice, but given their situation, he decides to be clear. “I just didn’t have time to grab anything, and I was thinking it would be best if we got a hotel. Separate beds of course.”

She nods, “Not a bad idea.” She looks him over, “Ya really aren’t phased by my powaa at all.”

Neil shrugs, “Not really. But honestly, I’d have asked for separate beds anyway.”

She grins at him, “A gentleman I see.”

He blushes a bit, “If only.” He’s never had a lot of luck being a gentleman. Being the one without powers, after everyone got old enough that he wasn’t teased, everything flipped around and everyone was a gentleman to him. On the one hand, after his tumultuous childhood he was happy to let people protect him. But it didn’t make it easy for him play that role.

She shrugs, either oblivious to his thoughts or uncaring about them, “Shall we go?” She asks.

He nods, “Sure. I think there’s a motel about a mile down the road.”

She looks around, “Haven’ seen a Sentinel in a while.”

He stands up, “All the more reason to leave now.”

**Meanwhile**

Scott stares at Charles, “What are you saying?” He is sitting on a couch with Jean and Bobby. Piotr, Josh and Kitty are sitting on the couch opposite them. John and Ororo have their own chairs.

“A large number of mutants… disappeared yesterday.” Charles says.

Ororo sighs, “Charles. I think they are old enough that hiding the truth from them is inappropriate.”

Charles looks down, “I suppose so. There is a certain community of mutants that has lived in the midwest for a long time. They are all gone.”

“You mean dead.” John says flatly.

Charles sighs again, “While it’s possible there is another explanation, I fear that is the case.” Josh raises his hand hesitantly. “You don’t need to ask permission to speak Josh. Please say what’s on your mind.”

“I just...” He looks around. “I’m sorry. I guess I don’t really have anything to say.”

Charles raises an eyebrow, “Anyone who says they have nothing to say usually has quite the opposite.”

Josh looks around, “I just. This can’t be the first time this has happened. Did you have meetings for those too? Or was this community special in some way?”

Scott turns to him, “Josh brings up a good point. You’ve never sat us down for something like this before.”

Charles nods, “You’re right. I suppose this is a bit personal for me. There were some personal friends of mine who lived there. However, there is a more practical reason I’ve called you together.

“They have remained hidden for years, and suddenly they’re wiped off the face of the Earth in a day. Though they weren’t a military, there were a number of quite powerful mutants there. It’s likely that nothing short of a large, planned, military operation would be capable of such a feat. Which means that it is extremely unlikely someone stumbled upon the place randomly. It is far more likely that someone in the know revealed the location.” Charles stops to let that sink in.

John shrugs, “You act as if that’s surprising.”

Charles turns to him, “What do you mean?”

John’s tone is sardonic, “Not everyone is happy being different. A lot of people must see being a mutant as having a curse.”

Ororo shakes her head, “That doesn’t make sense there. Being a mutant was perfectly normal. Everyone there was one. Well, almost everyone.”

Jean raises an eyebrow, “That’s a peculiar way of putting it.”

Ororo nods, “The only people who weren’t mutants, were the rare children born without an X-gene.”

John shrugs, “Must have been one of them.”

Charles thinks for a moment, “I don’t think so. But that does make me wonder. While I can’t find any mutants who escaped, if they attacked using Sentinels, it’s possible some non-mutants managed to escape in the chaos, especially if their mutant friends and family members helped them do so.” He sighs, “But I have no way of finding them.”

“What about John Does?” Kitty asks.

“John Does?” Ororo asks.

Kitty nods, “Well, if they escaped an attack, they likely got injured. Given where they’re from, they’re unlikely to have given any authorities that picked them up their name. So it’s possible that a hospital in the area might have picked up one of them as a John Doe. I, like, know it’s a long shot. But it’s something right?”

Charles eyes widen, “That is a possibility. And yes, it is a long shot, as you said, but it’s better than nothing.”

Ororo thinks for a moment, “Charles, there is another question to answer. Let’s say we do find an escapee from that community. What can we do about it?”

Charles sighs, “I know Ororo. That is a question to which I do not have an answer.”

Jean rolls her eyes, “It’s not a complicated question. We invite them here.” Everyone looks at her with various looks of shock, incredulity and dismay. “Oh don’t look at me like that! This wouldn’t be just some random human. It’d be a human who grew up around mutants their entire lives!” When people still stare at her, “Am I the only one that remembers that our goal isn’t to hide from humanity?”

Scott looks at her, “It’s not that simple.”

Jean looks back at him, “In this case? It is.” She gazes around the room, “And if we can’t even make peace with a small group of humans who see mutants as normal? Then what the fuck are we even doing here?”

That gives everyone pause. Josh is the first to speak, “I think Jean’s right.”

Kitty nods, “I’d like to point out that we are discussing a theoretical that may not even happen. Like, we all know if we find someone and they need a place to stay, we’ll give them one. No way Charles turns them down. But isn’t the more important thing the fact that someone betrayed them from the inside? And if that person knew about the institute, might have betrayed us too?”

Charles nods, “That is astute. But unfortunately, short of abandoning the house, there isn’t much we can do about that that hasn’t already been done.”

Kitty thinks for a moment, “Like… maybe we should just wait and see what happens.”

Ororo looks at her, “You don’t think we should look for them?”

Kitty shakes her head, “Charles says he knows them, so they probably know of us. They’ll, like, try and come here on their own. If we search for them, we may tip someone off to who they are.”

Josh raises his hand, and when everyone looks at him, he speaks, “Even if they are human. People like the Friends of Humanity won’t care.”

Ororo nods, “I fear many mutant separatists will feel the same way. They will find little solace anywhere they go.”

Charles sighs, “There does not seem to be a good course of action. We can’t find them without potentially putting them in danger. And our need for secrecy makes it quite difficult for them to reach out to us.”

Jean stands up, “Hey now! We don’t hafta give up. We just have to be careful how we go about things right?”

Everyone turns to her. “What are you suggesting?” Charles asks.

Jean grins, “I’m suggesting that,” She pulls Scott and Piotr to her sides, “Us kids go on a road trip.”

**The Next Morning**

The walk to the motel the previous night had gone without a hitch, but the two of them had been on high alert the whole time so they didn’t really talk. The motel clerk gave them no mind and when the adrenaline of the night had run out, both of them had fallen quickly fallen asleep.

Rogue has only been awake for a long enough to go get breakfast from the breakfast complementary breakfast buffet when she finds the boy awake. “Sorry.” She says.

“About what? Getting me breakfast?” He asks.

“Nah. For wakin’ ya.” She responds.

He chuckles, “You didn’t wake me. I usually get up around now.”

“Oh.” She says. “So, Ai was thinkin’ that. Do we wanna exchange names?”

The boy blinks, “Oh huh. With all that happened, I’d forgotten that we hadn’t.” He then raises his eyebrow at her, “But, why wouldn’t we?”

She notes that, despite the question, he does not give her his name. “Jus’ in case. Maybe it’s better if we don’t know a lot? Less attachment.”

The boy nods, “I can see that. But unless we’re gonna separate now, not having something to call each other would be inconvenient. So, maybe exchange fake names?”

Rogue blinks, “Well, Ai normally go by Rogue. So might as well keep doing it.”

The boy nods, “Okay. Then uh… call me Link?”

Rogue stares at him, “Link?”

He grins, “I figure you earn the story once we trust each other enough to share our real names.” He holds out his hand, and she notices he’s wearing a rubber glove. “Shake on it?”

Rogue blinks for a moment before hesitantly taking his hand, “Did you have this planned?”

He shrugs, “I figured it was easier to cover up than to completely avoid physical contact with you.” He holds his hands up, “Not that I’m not going to avoid contact. But, why risk an accident?”

She raises an eyebrow at her, “You’ve done this before?”

He nods, “Yep.” He thinks for a moment, “So you never actually said whether you’d call me Link or not.”

She nods, “Oh, righ. Sure. Link is fine.”

Link nods, “So, now that that’s done. We still don’t really know what we’re doing.”

Rogue thinks for a moment, “Ya said the place was in New York?”

Link nods in response, “Yeah. But I don’t mean the City, I mean the state.”

Rogue nods, “Yeah, Ai figured. But, New York is as good a place to be as any. An’ maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Link nods again, “Okay. So, how do we plan to get there? We don’t have the money for transportation, unless you’ve got a nest egg I don’t know about, and New York is still half a country away.”

Rogue shrugs, “We walk.”

Link’s eyes widen, “But that’ll take forever!”

“Probably. But, there isn’t much choice is there?” She responds simply.

He sighs, “I guess not.” He thinks for a moment, “You must know how to get food and stuff right?”

She nods, “There’re lotsa ways to get food.”

He looks down, “And they all involve thievery don’t they?”

Her expression flattens, “Ya do what ya gotta do. But thievery should always be a last resort.”

He looks at her with an odd expression, “Even when you live on the street?”

She nods, “Especially then. People catch a kid shoplifting, they call their parents. They catch a kid without parents shoplifting, they call the cops.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” She can tell he’s out of his element and that scares him.

“Yer terrified aren’t ya?” She asks.

He let’s out a huge sigh, “Yeah.”

She jumps to her feet, “Don’t be. Save that for later.”

He stands up and looks around, “Save it for the inevitable thing that’s actually terrifying?”

She grins, “You got that quick. Maybe there’s hope for us yet.”

He blinks at her, “Whaddaya mean?”

She shakes her head, “Ai’m gonna need you to find this place aren’t Ai?”

He sighs, “That’s not helping much with the terrified.”

She starts looking around the room, “You weren’t terrified of me a moment ago.”

“I’m not terrified of you. Expectations, on the other hand,” he laughs at himself, “are something you’re gonna tell me aren’t worth being afraid of.”

She throws him another grin, “Now yer gettin’ it.”

He blinks when he sees what she’s doing, “What are you doing?”

“Jus’ makin’ sure we aren’t leavin anythin important. Evidence it was us who was here.” She says.

“You think anyone is looking that hard for us?” He asks.

She looks at him, “Ya just escaped the Sentinels and you’re even willing to risk it?

“Okay yeah. Let’s get this place cleaned up.” He says and then moves to help her clean up the room.

Rogue ponders a bit and eventually looks him over. It only takes a moment for him to notice. “Uh… are you staring at me?”

“Scrutinizin. Tryin’ to figure out which of us is less memorable.” She shakes her head, “Not so happy with the options.”

He looks at her, “Oh yeah. You’re trying to figure out who should return the key?”

She nods, “Ya.”

He looks at her, “Definitely you. I’m a bald kid wearing upper class clothes. Even if he only remembers me as a kid who brought a girl to a motel to get away from the parents. He’s far more likely to remember that than literally some random girl.”

Rogue thinks for a moment, “You probably right. Ai’m gonna return the key.”

Link nods, “I’ll do one last once over and meet you outside.” With that Rogue leaves him to his own devices and goes and returns the key. In the end, the person behind the counter is different than the person who checked them in and she doesn’t pay her any mind. Perhaps she’d have paid Link more mind, but Rogue doubts that. She seemed more interested in her phone than anything. Rogue isn’t going to complain.

Rogue is waiting for another half and hour or so when Link gets back. “What took you so long?”

“Oh. I bleached the blankets and sheets.” He looks down a bit, and she wonders if he’s feeling some shame.

“Thanks. Ai appreciate it.” She says. “Look. Ai get it. Let’s not take any chances with the Sentinels.”

Link nods, “Thank you.”

Rogue shows Link a travel brochure she picked up in the lobby, “Ai reckon we head that way.” She points up the road.

Link nods, “That seems like the right general direction.” And then they start their, likely lengthy, journey.

**Some Time Later**

Piotr isn’t sure whether to be amused or terrified as he watches Jean react to yet another hospital without an applicable John Doe. “You mean no one has been admitted in the last few days who you couldn’t ID?” She continues to interrogate the poor clerk.

“No. If you are here to visit a specific person, I can look that up. If not, can you please leave? Our patients need as calm an environment as possible.” She says.

<Sometimes I wish these clerks would just kick us out! Rather than giving us some lamo excuse.> Piotr snorts in amusement at this. He chuckles even further when he sees Scott’s exasperated expression. Clearly Jean sent that to both of them.

They wait to talk until they are in the RV Charles had outfitted for such an outing. “What should we do now?” Scott asks, “Just searching random hospitals for a person who may not even be here isn’t turning up anything.”

Piotr shakes his head, “Kitty’s idea is great in theory, but would we even know what this John Doe looks like if we found them?”

Jean grumbles, “I don’t have a clue what to do.”

Scott thinks for a moment, “Maybe we need to go about this in a different way. If we go to whatever remains of the town, maybe we can find some sort of records. If the community is as self contained as Charles said it is, then there’s a decent possibility that there were relatively mundane records, like school records, still intact. All we really need is a picture of what people look like. Even last year’s yearbook in the library might help.”

Jean grins, “And that’s why you’re the leader Cyke!”

Piotr nods, “I must concur.”

Scott thinks for a bit, “So, when we get there, Jean, you link us all telepathically. I’ll stay in the RV, since I’m the most vulnerable if we run into any trouble. I can watch and stay in communication through the telepathic link. If we get out of range, don’t strain yourself Jean, and don’t worry about me. As long as it’s safe, continue the mission.”

Piotr and Jean look at each other. “If that happens, whose in charge?” Jean asks.

Scott shrugs, “I personally don’t consider any of us in charge. If I’m the leader it’s because I’m the strategist, not because I have final say in what we do.”

Piote and Jean both grin at him. “And that’s why you’re the leader!” Jean announces again.

“I must concur.” Piotr repeats, causing Scott to blush.

“If I’m the leader, than who are you?” Scott shoots back.

Jean rolls her eyes, “Piotr’s the muscle and I’m the wildcard, duh!”

Piotr shakes his head, “Haven’t you learned not to challenge her yet?”

Scott sighs, “You challenge her.”

Jean laughs, “Scott, you may be a master at strategy and tactics, but you are not exactly the master of witty come backs.”

Scott sighs again, “Okay okay. I admit it.” He can’t help thinking of Paul, but rather than making him feel sad, he feels nostalgic. “Paul was the same way. He was always the one with the witty come back.”

Piotr puts a hand on his shoulder, “Be you Scott.”

Jean grins, “Yeah Cyke. If you weren’t who you are we wouldn’t bother teasing you.”

Scott shakes his head and moves up to the driver’s seat, “You two go get ready while I drive.”

“Aye aye cap’n!” Jean says with a salute. Piotr simply nods, but his knowing expression is almost more infuriating than Jean’s.

“I’m not the captain!” Scott yells back causing both of them to laugh with glee

It takes about an hour for them to reach the area and find a relatively secluded place to park. Scott turns to them as they leave, “Be careful. If you can avoid revealing yourselves to anyone you find, all the better.”

Jean nods, “Got it.” And then they leave.

The hike to the town is shorter than they think but when they find it, they can’t help but stare. The wall has large holes in it. Some of them look cut through, while others looks blasted. A few even look punched. About the only good thing about it is there doesn’t seem to be anyone in sight. <Scott, are you getting this?> Jean asks.

<I am. Thanks Jean. Whatever happened her must have involved Sentinels. Be extra careful.> Scott responds.

<Gotcha.> Jean answers.

“He certainly gives a lot of orders for someone whose not in charge doesn’t he?” Piotr notes.

Jean smiles, “Would you trust either of us with those details?” She asks pointedly.

Piotr laughs, “No, I suppose not.”

<Scott, entering the place is going to be easy. And there really doesn’t seem to be anyone here at all, but, finding what we’re looking for might prove harder than you think. There’s almost nothing left. The buildings that are the most standing are still piles of rubble.> Piotr thinks.

<Look for a school. The timeline was late at night, so the school was probably mostly deserted. Hopefully no one tried to take refuge in the library. Any records you can fine would be great of course, but all we really need is a recent year book. Last year’s would be preferable.> Scott adds.

<What if the survivors are adults?> Jean asks.

<I think any adult survivors who need our help would have contacted Charles by now, and we’d have heard about it.> Scott surmises.

<Oh. That makes sense.> Jean responds. She doesn’t have to read his mind to understand that he thinks any real records have probably been destroyed. She’s thinking the same thing, independently of the fact that if they thought any real records survived the attack, they wouldn’t be going to a school library to look for a year book.

“Is this really how they see us?” Piotr asks as he moves a rock out of the way. The place is entirely deserted, and though initially they’d taken Scott’s advice about keeping their powers under wraps, the more they searched the more inconvenient it got and eventually even Scott agreed that if anyone was there, they’d have been discovered by now.

Jean shook her head, “I dunno. I knew things were bad, but I was kinda hoping not this bad.”

<We can’t stoop to their level.> Scott interjects.

“Of course not!” Jean adds, irritated that Scott would even entertain the idea.

Piotr sighs, “It’s just sad. There’s so much between us. And most of it doesn’t even matter.”

Jean smiles, “Finally! The school!” Then she frowns when she sees that the building is mostly intact. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the library is, would you?” She asks.

<You’ll just have to search the place. If the office is intact...> Scott starts.

She cuts him off, <Yeah yeah! Search for any records.>

“Should we split up?” Piotr suggests.

Jean thinks for a moment, “Famous last words? Or massive time saver.” She looks around the completely deserted area. “I’m thinking massive time saver?”

<Agreed. Piotr, how are you with the Dewey decimal system?> Scott asks.

<What is that?> Piotr responds.

<I guess I got the library then.> Jean deadpans.

<Right. Piotr, go to the office then and see if you can find any records.> Piotr responds to Scott in the affirmative.

The layout of the school is convoluted and there are too many stacks of books laying around for it to be clear where the library is. Once she finds the library, it doesn’t take long for her to find the yearbook though. <Scott. Got a year book. So I won’t wring your neck for making me wander the halls of the school for an hour!>

<Got it.> Scott responds. Jean can hear the smile in his voice even over the mental link, but she just grumbles in response.

When she returns to the office she finds Piotr still looking through folders. “Did you find anything?”

Piotr shakes his head, “The computers don’t work. I’m looking through the files, but they didn’t put who was a mutant or not into them anywhere.”

Jean grins and shows him a picture in the back of the year book, “Fortunately! The humans got their own section in the yearbook!”

She glances at them, “Kinda plain looking if you ask me.” She looks over the pictures again before one detail stands out to her. “Except this one. Neil Warren. It says he’s human, but the guy doesn’t have a hair on his face.” She brings the picture over the Piotr, “See? Doesn’t even have eyebrows.”

“That’s interesting. But does that really help us any?” He asks.

She shrugs, “Means he might stand out if he’s survived?”

<That’s a pretty big if.> Scott adds. <Can you tell me what the others look like?>

Jean describes the others in as detailed a way as she can. But the truth is, even most of the mutants in the book don’t strike her in any way. Aside of a few who are overtly inhuman, the pictures could be any random pictures of students from any random high school. “Finding any survivors from just this is going to be hell.” She deadpans.

<Well, at least we have something to go on.> Scott responds.

“Shall we go?” Piotr asks.

<Anything else to do here?> Jean asks Scott.

<Not that I know of. We should contact the institute anyway. The Professor may have some ideas.> Scott answers.

<Roger.> Jean answer. She then turns to Piotr, “It’s too bad.”

“Yes.” He says.

She shows him the various pictures of the students, “The ones that look human and the ones that don’t, there’s no difference. They are all being treated the same way. It must have been a nice place to live.”

Piotr sighs, “What about the humans? They weren’t treated the same.”

Jean shakes her head, “Yeah. I guess someone gets shit on wherever you go.”

Piotr looks at the pictures again. “But it does seem nice. Not having to hide.”

<But they were hiding.> Scott interjects. <The entire community was hiding.> For once Jean doesn’t have a witty comeback, and Piotr is quiet as well. <Come on. We can talk once you get back.>

The journey back is faster than the journey there, but the somber atmosphere leaves them silent, making the time go by slowly and when Piotr and Jean enter the RV they are relieved.

“Can I see the yearbook?” Scott asks.

Jean hands it to him before slumping down into a chair, “Knock yourself out.”

Rather than looking straight at the photo roster like Jean did, Scott opens the book from the beginning and looks through it page by page. At first it makes him nostalgic for Bayville high, but eventually he realizes something isn’t right. As if to confirm his feelings, he finds the typical lists of various sorts. And he comes to “most popular human.” A redhead named Benjamin Borge. When he looks at the other lists he finds him on none of them.

As far as Scott can tell, aside of the pictures specifically mentioning them as human, the human students have no presence in the book. It’s like there was a quota on human pictures that had to be met, and without said quota, they wouldn’t have made it into the year book at all.

“What are you thinking about?” Piotr asks him eventually.

Scott turns to him, “What do you think it would be like? Being one of a few humans surrounded by mutants?”

Piotr thinks for a moment, “Perhaps like how a blind person must feel surrounded by people who can see? Or how a cat would feel sharing a kennel full of dogs?”

Scott sighs, “Isolating.”

Piotr sighs as well, “Yes. But we won’t be like that.”

Scott turns to him, “What do you mean?”

Piotr puts a supportive hand on Scott’s shoulder, “If we find a human survivor, we won’t treat them like that.”

Scott smiles, “You sound like Jean.”

Jean pipes in, “Still here you know!”

Scott turns to her, “That was meant as a compliment.”

Jean steps up to where they are sitting, “But what’s the issue Scott? You don’t think we’re gonna be like that do ya?”

Scott looks down, “After what happened with Paul...”

Jean sighs, “I don’t think we hafta worry about that. They grew up around mutants remember?” She shakes her head, “Besides. We dunno if anyone even survived.”

Scott nods, “I wonder if this whole excursion was pointless.”

Jean puts her arms around Scott and Piotr, “Finding someone was never the point. I just thought we needed some time with just the three of us. Cause it looks like the place is getting busier, and as mentors, we can’t stick to our own little club.” She smiles at them, “This’ll be our last hurrah before we gotta do the whole be responsible adults thing. And if we find some poor soul who needs our help? All the better!”

Scott smiles, “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

Piotr smiles at her too, “Yes.”

Jean grins back, “Right backatcha guys!”

Scott stands up, “But now we should check in with the professor.”

Jean salutes, “Aye aye, cap’n!” Scott rolls his eyes in response. Piotr merely chuckles.

A moment later they are video chatting with Charles. “And you say you managed to get a year book? But that every other record was gone or useless?”

Piotr nods, “The school records that were on paper didn’t have much in them, and the computer’s were impossible to access.”

Jean shakes her head, “The library didn’t have anything else either. There was a section on yearbooks, aside of that there was nothing about the school or the students at all.”

Scott sighs, “We did look at the year book, but of the human students, only one of them stood out in any way, a boy with no hair named Neil Warren, and we have no way of knowing if he escaped, let along which direction he went in if he did.”

Charles’ eyes widen in recognition when he hears the name. “Actually Scott, that’s something I might be able to help you with.”

Scott raises an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“If this Neil Warren is the same Neil Warren I know, and from what you describe I can’t imagine he isn’t, then I may be able to detect him with Cerebro.” Charles responds.

The three of them raise their eyebrows in confusion, “But I thought Cerebro detected mutant DNA?”

Charles nods, “That’s only partially true. It would be more accurate to say that once Cerebro locks in on an individual, it then scans their DNA and ignores them if they are not a mutant. What it actually detects initially is a set of thought and neurological patterns that are common among people with super powers. Initially, this was the only thing it scanned for, but as there are people with super powers who are not mutants resulting in a number of false positives, the scanning process was refined and automated over time.

“Now it only even makes me aware of a person if it either detects them as a mutant, or cannot detect their DNA at all, as was the case with Jean, Bobby and Josh. While normally finding a specific human using this would be nearly impossible, Neil is a special case. His mind has been heavily restructured telepathically by his brother, as well as his own discipline, such that it should be detectably distinct from those of anyone who has a more natural set of brain patterns. While it is possible there are others who have similar mental structures, I am familiar enough with his mind that with a little detective work we should be able to reasonably determine which one of them is him.” Charles says.

Scott nods, “Okay. But what do we do about anyone else who escaped?”

Charles nods, “If you think you can find anyone else, then continue looking, but since we actually have a way of determining with relative certainty whether Neil survived and where he is, it seems like a good next step. He may be dead, but at least this way we can known for certain.” He thinks for a moment. “Oh, and Jean? If you find him, do not under any circumstances contact his mind telepathically. His mind is a death trap for uninvited telepathic interlopers.”

Jean raises an eyebrow, “You know that might have been a good thing to tell me earlier. You know, in case we did find him.”

Charles sighs, “You’re right, and I apologize. It has been years since I’ve had any direct contact with Neil or his family and with everything that happened, I didn’t really have time to think about any potential victim’s individual circumstances.”

Scott shakes his head, “Then there are others with individual circumstances?”

Charles thinks for a moment, “Not that I know of, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I only know about Neil’s circumstances because Ororo and I were personally involved in the incident that precipitated them. I have avoided delving deeply into the personal affairs of people in that community because they prefer their privacy.”

Scott nods, “Ah.”

Piotr is looking at the pictures in the yearbook again. A moment later he sighs. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to find any of these people with just the pictures alone. A physical description of them would describe too many people, and we can’t really post the pictures themselves can we? The last thing we want to do is point them out to the people who destroyed their home.”

Scott sighs, “I have to agree with Piotr. We can probably ask around nearby settlements, but I think finding anyone is a massive long shot.”

Charles nods, “I always knew finding anyone was going to be a long shot. Frankly, even with the potential to scan for him directly, I’d consider finding Neil to be a miracle.”

Jean thinks for a moment, “Well, if he is alive, he can’t be too far away can he?”

Scott thinks for a moment, “Unless he took some form of transit, like a plane or a bus, he couldn’t be too far. And if he did, it’s been long enough that he could be anywhere by now.”

Jean thinks for a moment, “So he’s either really close, or could be anywhere.” Jean turns to Charles, “Why don’t we continue to look around until you’ve had some time to search for Neil. If you find him, we’ll go pick him up. If you don’t, then we’ll call it a bust and come home with whatever we’ve found by then. How does that sound?”

Charles nods, “That sounds like a good plan.” He turns to Scott and Piotr, “Do either of you have any other ideas?”

Scott shakes his head, “That’s about what I was going to suggest.”

Piotr sighs, “Only that I wish there was more we could do. But I know we can’t spend the rest of our lives searching for people who are very likely dead.”

Charles nods again, “Then I will leave you to search how you see fit and contact you in a few days once I’ve found Neil or confirmed that he hasn’t survived.”

**At the Institute**

Charles is all but certain that he’s located Neil Warren. So sure, in fact, she he’s in a quandry. Neil’s parents are nowhere to be found, neither is his brother. While Pierce Warren should have been away at college, he cannot locate him, and thus cannot assume he is still alive. This means that the boy has nowhere to go.

Normally this wouldn’t be an issue. And if this had happened even a year ago, it wouldn’t be. Scott, Jean and Piotr would accept him gratefully and with open arms. If anything, they’d have been thrilled to have someone else close to their age.

But that was then, and now there are new recruits he does not know nearly as well. Recruits he knows have not had the best interactions with the humans around them. And then there’s John.

“You wanted to see us?” Kitty asks as she walks into the sitting room with John, Josh and Bobby.

“Yes. But don’t worry, none of you are in trouble, I just wanted to speak with you about a complication regarding the mission the others are on. This may take a bit, so you might want to get comfortable.” Charles says.

“They, like, found a human survivor didn’t they?” Kitty is straight to the point, as always.

“That is correct. But there are a few complications in this particular case.” Charles says.

“Like what?” Bobby asks.

Charles sighs, “The first complication is all of you. How would you feel having a human living here full time?”

Josh shrugs, “I’d be fine with it.”

John scoffs, but also shrugs, “I can deal with it. None of this is his fault.”

Kitty nods, “Yeah. Like, you said, they grew up around mutants, so we know they aren’t gonna hate us for who we are. And why should we care if they aren’t a mutant otherwise?”

“Bobby?” Charles asks.

Bobby thinks for a moment, “I don’t really mind, but, is it safe for him here? The last thing I’d want is to see someone get hurt.”

Charles nods, “That was a potential concern. And I’m glad you brought it up, because I was hoping you’d volunteer to share a room with him.”

Bobby’s eyes widen, “Why me?”

Charles looks at him, a little surprised. “Does the idea bother you?”

Bobby looks down, “Not really. I guess. I… How do I put this. I’m afraid I’ll hurt or scare him. Sure, he’s human and grew up around mutants. But kids are kids right? He’s had to have some guys do stuff to him. I just… I don’t want to scare anybody.”

Charles nods, “Ah. Well, I don’t know for certain that you wouldn’t scare him, but that is actually something I needed to discuss with you all. The reasons why I felt you were the best candidate are simple. If he was a girl, I’d room him with Kitty, but I don’t want to make either of you uncomfortable, so that wasn’t really an option.” He cuts Kitty off, “And yes, I know you wouldn’t mind. But I don’t know how he’d feel about it. And, to be honest, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable putting two able bodied teenagers of opposite sexes in the same room in any case.”

He turns back to Bobby again, “While Josh isn’t an issue, his former allegiance could cause friction. And John was never even a consideration, for reasons unrelated to him, though I suspect he wouldn’t want to share his space anyway. I briefly considered giving him his own room, like I did with the rest of you, but given that he’s human, making him live on his own could isolate him in a way it doesn’t do for the rest of you.

“Bobby, you are well adjusted, having lived knowing you were a mutant among humans for a period of time. And as I expected, you are showing concern for his safety. For both those reasons, I thought you were the perfect candidate for this.” Charles concludes.

Bobby looks at him, “Huh… I guess I am.” Bobby looks up at him, “It’s not that I don’t want to. I’m just… worried… What if he doesn’t accept me?”

Charles nods, “While I understand your fear, that was never one of my worries. I’m sure you’ll get along just fine if you give him a chance to get to know you.”

Josh raises his hand, “Um… if he wouldn’t mind… do you think…” He looks at Bobby, “I totally get why you don’t want me to share a room with him alone. But… do you think the three of us could share a room?” He looks at Bobby, “If that’s okay with you I mean.”

Charles raises an eyebrow at him, “Josh?”

Josh looks down, “I’ve just been lonely.”

Bobby shrugs, “Actually, I think I’d prefer that.” He turns to Charles, “I think it would be easier if it wasn’t just one of us. And I shared a room with my brother at home, so I’m not used to being alone.”

Charles nods, “Then, if you guys want, I can move you two together whether or not Neil ends up staying with us. How does that sound?”

Bobby nods, “I’d like that.”

Charles turns to John, “And now the largest complication of all. The reason why I knew he couldn’t stay with you is that Neil was traumatized as a young child and is afraid of fire, fire powers especially. At the very least, if he’s going to function here you can’t direct your power at him. And in truth, it would be ideal if you didn’t use your powers around him at all, but that wouldn’t be fair to you.”

John shrugs, “Makes sense.”

Charles blinks, “That’s it?”

John nods, “Look. I get it. I’m here because my house burnt down remember? He has nowhere else to go.”

“But you’re not happy about it?” Charles asks, a bit wary.

John shrugs, “I don’t have feelings about it either way. He’s not part of the hate brigade, so why should I care? The mansion is big. If I need to use my powers I can do it elsewhere. No biggie.”

Charles smiles at him, “That’s very mature of you.” John shrugs again in response.

Charles addresses the group again, “So, we’ll move Josh and Bobby into the same room. And if Neil comes, we’ll put him there as well, unless he insists on rooming alone. Do any of you have a problem with that?” Bobby and Josh shake their heads. John, yet again, shrugs.

Kitty smiles, “I hope he decides to come. He must, like, have super interesting views on mutant human relations!”

Charles smiles, “Indeed!”

Kitty laughs, “I just hope he’s smart enough to have a conversation.”

Charles laughs, “Unfortunately, the last time I saw him he was considerably younger, so I can’t say.”

Kitty grins, “Then, like, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

**That Evening**

After walking for over a week with little to show for it, Neil is tired. “Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” He asks.

Rogue shrugs, “Nope.”

Neil grumbles in frustration, “How can you be so nonchalant about this?”

“Ai got nowhere pressing to be. Do you?” She returns plainly.

Neil sighs. She’s right. And it’s not her fault. He shouldn’t take it out on her, “I’m sorry.”

She shrugs again, “Ai get your frustration. Took me a while to get ova’ it.”

Neil looks at her, “Get over being on the street?”

She shakes her head, “Tha’ was neva’ the issue. Ai had too many other thing I was worried about for bein’ on the street to be a big deal.”

Neil ponders her curiously, “I guess you had it rough.”

She smiles wistfully, which confuses Neal. “If Ai actually had it rough, maybe things woulda been easier. But Ai had this perfect life. Then it all fell apart.” She looks at him, “Took me awhile to learn how to accept tha’.”

Neil smiles at her, “I actually understand. It was the opposite for me. When I was little I was scared of everybody. And the fact that the kids weren’t always nice to me didn’t help anything. It took me a while to accept that the kids that used to tease me had grown up. Most of them did a full one eighty. Went from teasing me to being extremely protective of me. I was still scared of them for a long time after the teasing stopped.”

She raises an eyebrow, “These were all mutants?” Neil nods . “Ai can’t imagine what it would be like not having powers while being surrounded by kids who do.”

Neil nods, “It wasn’t terrible, but there were a lot of things about it that sucked. Accepting things, being resigned to stuff I couldn’t control? That’s what my life was.”

She nods, “Thas’ something Ai get.”

Neil takes another look around, and finds there is still nothing but farmland in any direction. On the one hand, they haven’t run into any Sentinels. But they also haven’t run into anyone else. Not that finding a town was really anything good for them. They ventured into the few towns they’d found to get some food, but aside of that they went around them, which made their journey take longer, but they both feel that’s safer than potentially being caught by a random Sentinel sweep.

They hadn’t encountered a true City yet, and Neil isn’t sure he thinks that’s good or bad. On the one hand, circumnavigating a city could take days. On the other hand, he’s getting restless. He’s always been surrounded by people before. Not that Rogue is bad company, in fact he’s pretty sure if she wasn’t here he’d have had a panic attack by now. But he’s definitely getting antsy at best.

He’s about to mention it to her, for the fiftieth time probably, when he notices some lights coming up from behind them. “Car…” He squints. “Or maybe a truck.”

Rogue stops and looks back, “Ya think they’ll care about us?”

Neil shrugs, “Probably not. But… do you think we could hitch hike?”

Rogue gives him a strange look, “Not a good idea.”

Neil sighs but he can’t help but keep looking back at it. “It’s an RV.” He says as it gets closer.

Rogue shrugs again, “Whatever.”

Neil realizes she’s right. It has nothing to do with them. That is until the RV starts slowing down as it approaches them. “Uh… Rogue. It’s...”

She nods, “Ai know. But we shouldn’t run. That’ll only make us more suspicious.”

Neil nods, “Or we could hide?”

She shakes her head, “Too late for that if they’re slowin’ down for us.”

Neil is about to suggest something else when the RV slows to a speed matching theirs. Rather than the driver window opening, a side window opens and a redheaded girl sticks her head out, “Man! I have to say. When he nails it, he nails it.” Neil isn’t sure how to respond to that, but he’s definitely wary. “Neil Warren?” She asks.

Neil’s eyes widen, “Who wants to know?”

The woman tilts her head to the side, as if pondering something, before responding. “Someone who knows she shouldn’t read your mind to find out.”

Neil’s eyes widen even further at that, and then he stops. Rogue stops too, and Neil can tell that, though before she was tense, now she seems more curious. The RV stops too. “Who are you?” Neil asks.

Jean grins, “Names Marvel Girl. And I believe you are acquainted with one Charles Xavier?”

Neil’s eyes widen, “Uncle Charlie?”

Now it’s Jean’s eyes turn to widen, though there is amusement mixed in that surprise. “Uncle Charlie? Sounds to me like you’re a bit more than just acquainted with him.”

Neil’s relief is visible as his entire body relaxes, “Then you do know what happened? And you’re from his institute?”

Jean snickers, “Well well. We don’t hafta spend hours explainin for once.”

Rogue steps forward, “You drivin’ there?”

Jean nods, “You comin’? Cause we don’t force people. If you guys want, we can drive off and leave you here.” She looks down the road in both directions, “But I don’t know why you’d want us to do that.”

Neil turns to her, “You trust them?”

Rogue smiles at him, “Now way they’d know all that if they weren’t trustworthy.” She says, “And if Ai thought you we’re untrustworthy, Ai’d have left you a week ago.” She then sighs, “Besides. Ai’m also tired of walkin’, just more resigned to it than you are.”

The side door opens and a tall young man leans out, “Please come in! I’m glad we finally found you. We’ve been looking for you for days.”

Neil blinks, “For me?”

“For survivors. We’ve only been looking for you in specific since yesterday.” The man says.

Neil steps inside, “Oh. She likes her space, so don’t get too close okay?” He doesn’t want any accidental mutant power triggering, but he also doesn’t want to give her away either. Not if her mutant power is the only thing protecting them.

Rogue steps inside, “He’s right. If Ai touch ya, I could kill ya.”

The man nods, “We’re pretty open minded around here.”

The redhead walks over to the door, “Yeah. Our driver has laser eyes!”

Rogue looks at her incredulously, “Laser eyes?”

The redhead grins, “Yes. Laser eyes. And he can’t turn them off.”

The man looks at Neil, “You don’t seem surprised.”

Neil shrugs, “Lasers can come from anywhere.”

The man shuts the door and turns to the front, “Scott! We’ve got them.”

Another man, this Scott, turns around, “Them?”

The first man nods, “Neil was with a girl. A mutant who can hurt people by touching them apparently. We don’t know the details.”

Scott raises an eyebrow, then shrugs, “The professor would want us to make the offer to her all the same.”

Rogue raises an eyebrow at that, “Offer?”

The man grins, “The offer to come to a place where we’re trying to make a difference. Where you can be accepted for being a mutant, and work to try and coexist with humans. Which is admittedly a more long term goal at this point.”

Rogue shrugs, “Ai got nothin’ to lose. So sure.”

The girl yells forward, “Scott! Hit the gas. We’re going home!”

**Some Time Later**

Mystique smiles as she enters the house of her friend Destiny. She’d followed Rogue and Neil until Xavier’s students had picked them up. “Things have gone according to plan.” She says as soon as the door is shut.

“That much I know.” Destiny says, not surprising Mystique at all. One of the reasons she feels she can trust the woman is that there isn’t much point in trying to hide stuff from her anyway. For someone like Mystique, whose very existence is a web if lies, having a person she can trust and who trusts her in return is a godsend. “What eludes me is why you’d go through the trouble just to get one boy into Xavier’s clutches.”

Mystique nods, “Oh, this was not about Neil. Neil was the silver lining.”

Destiny raises an eyebrow, “The silver lining?”

Mystique sits down on a couch, “Yes. The silver lining. Rogue was the more important factor. Much more.”

“Then you decided her ability to take memories was too much of a risk?” Destiny asks.

Mystique sighs, “Yes. It’s too bad, powers like hers don’t come around very often. But I couldn’t risk her ruining my plans. Not at such a crucial juncture.”

“That I understand. What I don’t understand is why you would hand her to Xavier.” Destiny responds.

Mystique’s eyes thin, “Because I will not risk giving her to Magneto. Magneto’s plan, whatever it is, is long term. I know I will not be able to anticipate what he’ll do, and I will not assume that it will be aligned with my agenda. There may be a point when I’ll have to side against him, and if that ever happens, I don’t want him having Rogue as his ally.

“Getting Rogue into the institute wouldn’t be too difficult, but when I learned about the attack on that community I had an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. By arranging for Neil to escape and for Rogue to meet him, I’d virtually ensure that Charles accepts her into the fold. That’s the place she’ll be most protected from Magneto.”

Destiny raises an eyebrow, “Then you think you’ll be able to get Rogue back on your side?”

Mystique laughs, “Oh no! If Charles Xavier is good at anything, it’s recruiting people for his cause. No, she’ll join up with him and start to follow his ideals. That’s only a matter of time. But that stops Magneto from being able to use her abilities, and Charles would never abuse her. If I can’t safely control her, Xavier’s is the safest place for her to be. Better, that gives me two people who can vouch for me in the case that I need his help.”

Destiny smiles at that, “Ah. I see. So that’s why Neil was such a great opportunity. He can vouch for what Rogue says about you being true.”

Mystique nods, her grin palpable, “Yes. Exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you read my short lived X-Men Evolution Fic, Neil is the same character. But like everything else in Alternate X, he's been retooled to this narrative. And though he is a main character, he is not the main character like he was in that story.


	4. 2.4 Simmering Days

John looks up in mild interest as Jean, Scott and Piotr enter the institute. When he sees the boy he sighs. Apparently they found Neil, meaning he’s going to have to be careful with his powers. It’s not that he wants to scare the guy, it’s just inconvenient.

A girl then enters the door after them, mildly peaking his interest. Then Jean notices him and he realizes he’s not going to be able to avoid an introduction.

“Hey! John!” She motions to the two of them, “Neil, Rogue. This is John.”

Neil offers a hand. “Hey.” John can tell Neil is nervous, though whether this is because they are just meeting or he knows about John’s power is anyone’s guess.

John accepts the hand shake regardless, “Hey.”

He notes that the girl doesn’t offer a hand, but she does look his way with a similar expression as his own: apathetic but mildly curious. “Hey.” But her tone indicates she can’t be that interested in him.

“Hey.” He repeats in a similarly disinterested tone.

Jean tilts her head to the side, “And…. Notta.”

Scott shrugs, “It’s fine Jean.” He turns to Neil, “If you’ll come with me I can show you to your room.” He turns to John, “Are Bobby and Josh here?”

John nods, “I think they’re in their new room.”

Scott nods, “Excellent!” He turns to Neil, “Come on.”

“Okay.” Neil responds before following Scott out of the room.

“So… he’s human?” John asks no one in particular after he’s sure Neil is out of ear shot.

Piotr turns to him, “I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

John shrugs, “Nah.” He looks at the girl, “So, you go by Rogue?”

Rogue nods, “Ai do.”

John shrugs again, “Cool.” The two of them stand there looking at each other, and John isn’t sure the silence is awkward or not. He’s definitely curious about her, but he’s also wary of her in the way that he’s wary of anyone he doesn’t know. He gets the impression that she feels the same way about him, but if she’s as good as hiding how she feels as he is, then he can’t be certain he’s reading her correctly. The truth is, if he wasn’t bored he probably wouldn’t care that much, but this girl is the most interesting thing to happen to him in a long while. Which is sad really, but there’s not much he can do about that. It isn’t like there’s anywhere else for him to go.

“Riveting isn’t it?” Jean says after a moment causing both everyone to look at her.

“What?” John asks.

Jean grins, “What you can gleam from a blank stare.”

Piotr nods, “I agree.” He turns to Rogue, “But perhaps we should go introduce you to the professor?”

Rogue shrugs again, “Whateva’.” But John notes her tone isn’t dismissive. If he’s reading her right, she doesn’t care one way or another if they go. In any case the moment is gone, and since it’s obvious she’s not going to say anything to him, he returns to watching television.

For her part, Rogue is curious about John, but more in that he’s standoffish when everyone else she’s met from there isn’t. It makes her wonder what his story is. But idle curiosity will have to wait. If she’s going to accept help from a benefactor, she figures it would be better to actually meet the man, so she follows Piotr to his office.

When they reach the door, Piotr turns to her, “Would you like me to accompany you?”

Rogue shrugs, “Nah.”

Piotr smiles at her, “Are you sure?”

Rogue nods, “Ya can if you want, but Ai’m fine.”

Piotr nods, “You’ll be fine.” He says and then leaves her to her devices. The truth is, she’s happy he left. It shows he isn’t going to just assume she needs his help. She hopes everyone here is like that.

When she enters the office a lot of the stuff that she passed by makes a lot more sense. The lift on the stairs. The fact that all the doorways are just wider enough than normal for her to notice. The professor being in a wheelchair explains all of that.

“Hello,” he says, “you must be Rogue.”

Rogue nods, “Ai am.”

He smiles at her, “I’m Charles Xavier. I was informed of your abilities, so I won’t offer a hand shake, but I wanted you to know that it’s not because I don’t want to welcome you. I am simply trying to respect your personal space.”

Rogue smiles at that, “Thanks.”

Charles smiles too, “So, do you have any questions before we get down to business?”

She shakes her head, “Nah. Seems pretty simpa’.”

Charles nods, “Okay then. If you wish to stay here, I can offer you meals and a room. If you don’t wish to stay, I can try and find you somewhere else, but that would be more difficult.”

Rogue shrugs, “Ai got no reason to refuse.”

Charles smiles, “Well then. I’ll assign you a room. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Ororo and Logan have been here the longest, but if you are more comfortable talking to someone closer to your age, Jean, Scott and Piotr are knowledgeable and can help you with almost anything you’d need. Let me go over some ground rules, and remember, if you change your mind, you can leave at any time. I will even do my best to find a place for you to go if you need help with that.”

Rogue nods, “Thank you.”

They then go over a set of ground rules Rogue finds she has no problems with. She isn’t sure that she’ll like the place, but she’s seen nothing to dislike so far, and it definitely beats living on the streets.

**Meanwhile**

Neil follows Scott through the building, “So, who are Bobby and Josh?”

“We’re hoping they’ll be your roommates.” Scott answers, “But if you want your own room, we have plenty of space.”

Neil nods, “Oh. Are Bobby and Josh mutants?”

Scott faces him, “Everyone here is a mutant.”

Neil can tell Scott is cautious, and he guesses he knows why, “Are you worried about how I’ll get along with them?”

Scott frowns, “Are you worried about how you’ll get along with them?”

Neil sighs, “I was just curious. I wasn’t sure if I was the only human here. I’m guessing I’m here because of Uncle Charlie.”

Scott gives him a strange look, “I was under the impression that you didn’t have any issue with mutants.”

Neil looks up at him, “I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what you can do.” He thinks for a moment, “How do I say this? There are good people and bad people. And mutants are people.”

Scott thinks for a moment, “Fair enough.”

“So, Bobby and Josh?” Neil asks again.

“They volunteered to be your roommates, but I won’t tell you to trust them.” Scott looks down at him, “I won’t even ask you to. Just, give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Neil looks at him knowingly, “It sounds to me like you’re the one worried about how I’ll respond to them.”

Scott sighs, “I’ve had humans react badly.”

Neil nods, “I understand. But Scott? Nearly everyone I knew was a mutant. When I said mutants are people, I meant it. You seem to want me to see some kind of divide between us, but the very idea is silly to me.”

“You’ve been thinking about how you’d answer this question, haven’t you?” Scott asks.

Neil nods, “I know the divide exists in other places. It occurred to me someone might ask. And walking through farmland for a week gives you a lot of time to think.”

Scott smiles at that, “I can imagine. Also, Uncle Charlie?”

Neil laughs, “All the kids my age referred to him like that. He came a long time ago to talk to us about his institute. One of the kids called him Uncle Charlie cause he had an uncle who also happened to be named Charlie. Charles told us it was fine to call him that and the nickname stuck.” Neil sighs, “Though it does have a bit more significance for me, but I don’t really want to talk about that.”

Scott nods, “That’s fine.”

A moment later they reach the room and Scott turns to Neil. “So, I know this is probably nothing special to you, but one of your roommates is physically inhuman. So please be aware that he can be sensitive about it.”

Neil nods, “To be honest? I probably wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t point it out.”

Scott tilts his head to the side, “I guess I am beginning to realize that none of this is strange to you.”

Neil laughs, “Actually, this is very strange to me.” He looks up at Scott, “You’re just focusing on the one thing that isn’t.”

Scott can’t help but chuckle, “Then let’s go.”

When the two of them enter the room, two boys turn to them. One of them is tall and gold colored while the other is short, but still a little taller than Neil. “Hello.” Neil says.

Scott motions to the tall gold boy, “This is Josh.”

Neil shakes Josh’s hand, “Hi Josh.”

Scott then motions to Bobby, “This is Bobby.”

Neil then shakes Bobby’s hand, “Hi Bobby.”

“This is Neil.” Scott says, “He’ll be your new roommate. Be nice to him, okay?” Bobby and Josh nod and then he then leaves them to their own devices.

Bobby tilts his head to the side, “I thought you weren’t a mutant.” He half asks.

Neil blinks, “I’m not.”

Bobby thinks for a moment, “But you have no hair.”

Neil looks down, “Oh… yeah. That. There’s a story there, but, I’m not ready to talk about that.”

Bobby frowns, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry.”

Neil shakes his head with a sigh, “Don’t worry, it’s not you. I understand the curiosity. It’s just… not a good memory.”

Bobby nods in recognition, “I understand. I’ve got some unhappy memories too.”

Josh nods as well, “Yeah. I think that’s part of why I wanted to room with you guys. Being alone just kept reminding me of what I’d lost.”

Neil smiles up at him, “Well. Hopefully we’ll be able to help each other.”

Josh smiles back, “Yeah.” He pauses and thinks for a moment, “But, why haven’t you asked about my skin?”

Neil shrugs, “I’ve got no reason to.”

Josh shakes his head, “Come on. How can you not be curious about it?”

Neil laughs, “This is so weird. See, where I come from? No one would bat an eye at what you look like. Like I told Scott, if he hadn’t mentioned it to me? I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.”

“So to you, the idea that we’d find Josh weird is the weird thing?” Bobby asks.

Neil laughs, “Yeah. And I know that’s not the way it is in most of the rest of the world. But it’s still weird to me.”

Josh thinks for a moment, “You aren’t just saying that. You really do see me as perfectly normal.”

Neil nods, “Shouldn’t I?”

Josh looks down, “I don’t.”

Nail sighs, “I understand actually.”

“I guess, being a human surrounded by mutants, you’d have to understand being different.” Bobby muses.

Neil nods, “To an extent, but it isn’t like I was the only human there. Gay guys on the other hand.”

Bobby smiles, “Wait, you’re gay?”

Neil gives him a strange look, “Yes.”

Bobby laughs, “My god! I’m gay too.”

They both look up at Josh, who puts his hands up in defeat, “Nope! I totally like the chicks.” He playfully swats at Bobby, “A fact you already know!”

Bobby grins again, “I know. But looking up at you at that moment was just too perfect.”

That causes Neil to burst out laughing, “Well now I’m less worried about us getting along, and more worried about whether the institute will survive us.” That causes Josh and Bobby to laugh with him.

Neil’s face then flattens into a more thoughtful expression, “Can I ask what your powers are?”

Bobby nods, “I can freeze things.”

Josh smiles, “I can heal.”

Neil nods, “Oh. Cool.”

Bobby and Josh look at each other, “That’s it?” They both ask.

Neil smiles teasingly, “Those aren’t the rarest powers you know. I know plenty of people who can do them.”

Josh laughs, “You do? And here I was thinking I was a freak.”

Bobby shakes his head, with an amused grin, “While I thought I was special.”

Neil snickers, “Nope! Still perfectly normal.” His mouth widens into a grin, “Mundane even.”

“I’ll show you mundane!” Bobby yells before tackling Neil onto the ground. Josh laughs as the two of them roll around for a bit before they separate and roll onto their backs panting.

Bobby let’s out a relieved sigh, “I’m so glad I agreed to this!”

Josh nods, “Me to.”

“I’m glad you did too. I needed this.” Neil sighs, “I was worried I wouldn’t fit in.”

Bobby gives him a funny look, “But you see mutants as perfectly normal.”

Neil nods, “Yeah. But, none of you do. And I know someone here has to have had issues with humans.” He shivers a bit, “The thought scares me a bit actually.”

Josh sits down next to them, “I understand that too. I was scared when I first came. I didn’t know what to expect.”

“I think everyone was.” Bobby says. “But don’t worry about it. Everyone here has been nothing but nice to me. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Josh nods, “Me too. And believe me, they’d have more reason to dislike me than you.”

Neil looks at him curiously, “Why?”

Josh sighs and looks at Bobby, who nods at him supportively, “Because I used to be a member of the Friends of Humanity.”

Neil looks down. He can’t imagine what it must have been like for Josh, realizing he’s a mutant surrounded by all that hate. “Oh. I can see how that might have been awkward.”

“It strangely wasn’t. I guess when you have a house full of misfits with colorful pasts, people are more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Josh responds.

Bobby nods, and then turns to Neil, “Yeah. You probably have the most boring past of anyone here.”

Neil sighs, “If only that were true.” When he doesn’t elaborate, Bobby and Josh don’t push.

“So, wanna play video games?” Bobby says.

“Oh yeah!” Neil says.

“I’m in!” Josh says and the three of them turn to the entertainment center set up in their room.

**Meanwhile**

Kitty is looking for Jean. She wants to talk to her before she gets settled in. So she flags down Piotr. “Piotr, do you know where Jean is?”

Piotr thinks for a moment, “Last I saw she was talking to John in the living room.”

Kitty smiles at him, “Thanks!”

When she reaches the sitting room, John is alone. “Have you seen Jean?”

“She went to raid the kitchen. Something about lo mein?” John answers.

Kitty shakes her head. She’s heard the lo mein story, but she still can’t quite imagine even Jean dumping lo mein on waffles. That is until she reaches the kitchen and finds her doing exactly that. She can’t help but comment, “Like, ewe!”

Jean grins, “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.” She sticks her fork into a piece of waffle and twists it to give it a noodle wrap before putting it in her mouth. “It’s superb!”

Kitty sighs, “Are you serious?”

Jean nods, “I don’t joke about lo mein.”

Kitty laughs, “Really?”

Jean can’t keep a straight face, “Okay, I do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love the stuff.”

Kitty shakes her head, “Whatever.”

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Jean asks.

Kitty nods, “I was wondering about school. Everything seems so normal. Like, how do people not know who we are?”

Jean shrugs, “Well. Only one human ever found out about us, and he never told anyone. But that’s Scott’s story to tell, not mine.” She thinks for a moment, “The rest is just us keeping a low profile.”

Kitty raises an eyebrow, “You keeping a low profile?”

Jean laughs, “You don’t have to be a hermit or social outcast. Just act like you did before and you should be fine. Just remember that for them, nothing’s changed. You don’t have to be anything but the new transfer student everyone sees you as.”

“I guess I’m overthinking it.” Kitty says.

Jean shrugs, “Nothing wrong with that. You just have to think about it in the right way. They have no reason to assume you’re a mutant. And when the next sentinel scan doesn’t detect you as one, anyone who might have been worried about it won’t be anymore. The best thing you can do to hide in plain sight is nothing. Don’t use your powers, but otherwise just be yourself.” Jean grins at her, “Trying not to act suspicious is typically extremely suspicious behavior. Occam was a smart guy.”

Kitty laughs, “Actually, it’s Ockham, and that’s not what he meant.”

Jean raises an eyebrow at Kitty, “Oh?”

Kitty nods, “He didn’t mean the simplest solution is the best, that’s a misconception. What it really means it that if you have multiple explanations, or hypotheses, regarding the same thing that all fit the facts as we know them, the one which requires less assumption is the safer one to assume is true, since the more assumptions we’re making, the less objective our results are.”

Jean grins at her, “Man. That makes so much more sense!” She grins, “Still doesn’t change that, Ockham was it? Was a smart guy. Or that there is merit to said misconception.” Jean laughs, “After all, the simplest solution still has to be a solution, right? Same is true of an explanation. Overcomplicating shit is rarely the right thing to do.”

Kitty snickers, “I, like, guess I can’t argue with that.” Her laugh falls into a smile, “Thank you.”

Jean raises her fork, “Anytime.” She then hands Kitty a waffle, “Don’t be a chicken! Try it.”

Kitty looks down at the waffle and the lo mein. She hesitantly forks a small amount of lo mein onto a piece of waffle and then takes a bite. She can’t help but grin, “This… is good! How is this good?”

Jean’s grin is palpable, “Lo mein is good with everything!” Kitty rolls her eyes in response, but continues eating the strangely delicious concoction.

**The Next Day**

Rogue sits on the couch watching T.V.. Everyone else is having breakfast, but she didn’t feel like socializing so she took her meal and asked to be excused. It isn’t that she dislikes the place. In general, she does. The people here seem really nice, and after being on the street for years, the stability is also nice. She wants to get to know everyone on an individual level, but she isn’t comfortable socializing with them as a group just yet.

“Are you okay?” Scott asks from the doorway.

“Ai’m fine.” She says.

“You sure? You can come to breakfast if you want. No one’s gonna judge you.”

She smiles. Scott is a bit serious at times, but he’s nice and she can tell he really cares, “It’s nah that. Ai’m just not used to that many people.”

Scott smiles at her, “Oh. Well, then do you mind if I keep you company?”

Rogue shrugs, “Nah.”

Scott sits down. “So. How do you like it here?” He asks.

She shrugs, “It’s fine. Better n’ bein’ on the street.”

Scott sighs, “That bad?”

Rogue laughs a little, “Nah. It’s great. Ai’m just not used to being positive.”

“Understandable. If you’re really fine, then I’m glad. But Rogue, we’re here to help you, all you have to do is ask.”

Scott starts to stand up but Rogue puts her hand up to motion him to stop. “Ai really am happy to talk to you Scott. Ai want this to work out. And Ai know Ai can’ push people away.”

Scott sits down, “I’m not sure what to say. Jean and Piotr are so much better at this than I am.”

Rogue raises an eyebrow at him, “Why’d ya say that?”

Scott sighs, “I dunno. I just don’t want to say something that might make you uncomfortable.”

Rogue shrugs, “Ya can’t know if ya don’t ask.”

Scott nods, “Okay. I think I have some idea what you’re going through. You see, when I was a kid, my powers activated and I had no control over them. They would activate randomly and were still destructive. Eventually I had my own eyes sewn shut because I’d rather live as a blind man than accidentally hurt people or destroy things. So I understand what it’s like to have a power you have to constantly be aware of.”

Rogue snickers, “You need to live a little.”

Scott blinks his eyes, “What?”

Rogue looks at him, “Ai didn’t survive those years alone by wallowin’. Ai had to find my joy somewhere.”

Scott laughs, “I’m glad.” His expression flattens, “But if you need help. Just know that we’re here to help you.”

Though Scott isn’t the most diplomatic person, she can tell he means well. She appreciates his candor and his empathy. They remind her of Cody. Though Cody was far less awkward than Scott, he was honest and understanding. Sometimes she wonders what happened to him. She never did find out. Maybe she’ll ask Charles if he can find out at some point? At the same time, though, she wonders if there’d be a point to that. Wherever he is now, she can’t imagine he wants anything to do with her.

She understands him quite well, after all. That’s perhaps the biggest reason why she ran. One thing she’s never told anybody, not even Raven the one person she’s told about the memory draining effects of her power, is that in that last moment the love he’d felt for her was nowhere to be found. Instead, the last thing he felt as he kissed her that day, was utter terror.

**Later That Day**

John stares at the flame in his palm. If he keeps the flame small enough, he doesn’t need the butane of his lighter. He can keep it going with the oxygen in the air. Though he wonders if he’s limited by that? He can still feel the flame calling out to him. Though he’s certain he can’t create fire, he wonders if maybe some part of him can empower it.

After all, he burnt an entire house down with the fire of a stove burner. And sure, he knew that wasn’t impossible, but there was no way there was enough gas from just the fire and the oxygen in the air to keep the entire kitchen filled with flames for as long as they did. Nor would there be enough butane in his lighter to nearly melt two Sentinels. He’d run out of butane, so he was still using it, but he had to be supporting the flames somehow on his own.

Despite the whirlwind of thought, he’s calm. The flickering flames have a hypnotic quality to them. Rather than the chaotic mess they often are, his thoughts are directed. He’s focused, but without being tense, and its all because of the tiny flame in his hand.

“Are you thinking about something?” Piotr asks him.

John keeps watching the flames, “Yeah.”

Piotr smiles, “It must feel good to hold a flame in the palm of your hand like that.”

John can’t help but smile at that, “It does.”

Bobby is off with Scott and Jean doing some exercise. Some part of John understands why Bobby is getting the extra attention. He’s seen how powerful the boy is. How effortlessly he was able to do things that John can only dream about. Bur that thought only irritates him the more. As usual, the small town kid gets it all while he gets shafted.

As relieved as he is to have a place where he doesn’t have to hide, from himself or from abusive adults, he finds the place stifling. Scott and Jean are nice enough, but Scott can be a bit of a hard ass and Jean is a bit too excitable for his tastes. The adults are fine, but they are adults, and he has learned to be wary of adults. The other shoe always drops with them.

He hasn’t really spoken to Kitty, Josh or Rogue, and he’s been avoiding Neil, so that leaves only Piotr among people he actually knows. Piotr is both the one he likes the most, but also the one he understands the least. At first Piotr’s need to help everyone around him made him wary. Everyone he ever knew was always out for themselves in the end. It took him a long time to realize that Piotr’s altruism is just that. The man doesn’t have an ulterior motive, except perhaps his own self gratification. But Jon is fine with that.

More than that, after talking to Piotr a bit about his past, he realizes that he and Piotr have a lot more in common than he has with anyone else here. He has almost nothing in common with Scott. Despite that they were both in foster care, everyone was afraid of Scott, while he was afraid of everyone. This isn’t to say he thinks Scott had it better than him. He realizes that must have been terrible. But that doesn’t mean he can comprehend what it felt like.

But, despite his size, despite his strength, despite his prowess, Piotr’s life was defined by what he did to avoid being afraid. John completely understands that. And yet the man constantly belies his expectations.

John looks up to see Piotr watching him from a doorway. “I didn’t want to bother you.” He says.

John shakes his head, “You didn’t interrupt anything important.”

Piotr ponders for a moment, “Are you sure?”

John looks up at him, “Maybe. I dunno.”

Piotr frowns, “It looks to me like something’s bothering you.”

John thinks for a moment, then sighs, “Bobby.”

Piotr raises an eyebrow, “You don’t like Bobby?”

John grumbles a bit, “I wish I could just hate him! He has everything, and he doesn’t even know it! But he’s so earnest. So nice. I think if he understood what life was like for me. He… he would pity me and… he’d try to do what he could to make my life better. So can I really resent him?”

Piotr nods, “I understand. It’s difficult when the person you hate the most is yourself.”

John’s eyes widen, “I… no… that’s not.” He looks at Piotr. “You… you mean you.”

Piotr nods, “I was bad. And before that, well… I… was… I was different. And people thought that was bad. Then I had powers, and people were afraid of me. People who weren’t afraid of me sought to use me. And then I learned how to use them. But I was never happy, with who I was or what I was doing, until I came here.”

John looks at him, “But being happy with where you are isn’t being happy with who you are. Is that what you mean?”

Piotr looks at him, “What do you think?”

John thinks for a moment, “I fucking wish I didn’t have to think.”

Piotr smiles at him, “There’s the John I know.”

John sighs, “I’m weak.”

Piotr shrugs, “There’s nothing wrong with being weak.”

John is about to say ‘what do you know about being weak’ but stops himself. Isn’t that what Piotr was just talking about? Sure, he was never physically weak. But John knows there are other kinds of weakness.

John decides to ask Piotr something that he’s been wanting to ask someone since he pulled Bobby off that bus. “Do you think its unfair? How lucky Bobby is compared to me?”

“What makes you think Bobby is luckier than you?” Piotr asks.

John didn’t expect that response, “What do you mean? Of course he’s luckier than me!”

Piotr looks a him, “Are you sure? Bobby may have had more than you, that’s true. But doesn’t that also means he’s lost more than you? You may not have had the support you needed, but you learned to support yourself. Bobby has lost his entire family. He’s lost his life. He may seem well adjusted, but I’ve seen this before. At some point what’s happened will hit home for him. He’ll realize what’s happened to him is real, and unless someone is there for him, he’ll crack.”

John’s eyes widen, “But with his kind of power-!”

Piotr nods, “Still feeling like he’s lucky?”

John shakes his head, “If he hurt us, he’d feel guilty for the rest of his life.”

Piotr nods, “You and I have done questionable things. I know I’ve done terrible things. But I also did them because I felt I had no choice. I’ve come to terms with that. You also had reasons for the bad things you’ve done, I’m sure.”

John stares back at the flame in his hands, “I hate that I resent him, but I do.”

Piotr nods, “I’m not telling you not to feel how you feel. But those are your feelings. No one else’.”

John sighs, “I thought you were gonna tell me it’s not his fault.”

Piotr shrugs, “You already know that. And that wouldn’t have helped you.”

John looks down, “I’m afraid of what I might do you know.”

Piotr nods, “Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. Given your past, I’d be worried if you weren’t.”

John chuckles, “You’re afraid too.”

Piotr smiles, “Fear keeps you alive.”

John’s chuckle turns into a laugh, “I told Bobby the same thing!”

Piotr laughs, “But more importantly, fear keeps you in check.”

John closes his fist, putting out the fire. “I need to be alone.”

Piotr stands up, “Are you sure?”

John nods, “All my life, I’ve compared myself to others. Never fucking gave myself much thought. I know what you’re gonna say. Don’t be angry.”

Piotr shakes his head, “No my friend. Anger is a fine thing. Just, be careful what you do with that anger. Finding yourself is important, but it can also be cruel. Don’t forget that you can’t put yourself above the world.”

John looks at him, “Because that would be wrong, right?”

Piotr shakes his head again, “Because the world will knock you down and then crush you.”

“Humility huh?” John asks.

Piotr thinks for a moment, “I won’t tell you how to live. I only want to warn you that your choices have consequences, so don’t make decisions lightly.”

“Thank you.” John says. Piotr nods in response and then walks away.

“Actions have consequences.” John says to himself and then lights another flame and pulls it to his palm, where he continues to stare.

**Meanwhile**

Bobby stares at Scott and Jean blankly, “You want me to make ice now? It’s like, fifty billion degrees in here!”

Scott smirks at him, “You don’t think you can?”

“I can. But what’s the point? It’ll melt almost instantly.” Bobby answers incredulously.

Jean grins, “I guess you’ll just have to concentrate on it then, won’t you?” Her grin is menacing. Like a stronger, eviller, more knowing version of Scott’s smirk.

Bobby looks at Scott, “But you want me to make a pyramid of individual ice cubes?”

Scott nods, “That is exactly what I want you to do. And they must be individual cubes to. If I push the pyramid over, I should get a pile of ice, not a pyramid on its side.”

“But that’s not how ice works!” Bobby is even more incredulous.

Jean floats some water into the air, “Is this how water works?” She asks as she floats a sphere of water in front of Bobby’s face?

Bobby sighs, “I guess not.”

Scott continues, “And I’m pretty sure ice doesn’t make giant ramps on it’s own.”

Bobby looks down, “But… giant ramps are easy. This is… A lot harder.”

Jean nods, “I get it. Believe me I do. But that’s kind of the point. You don’t need help releasing your power. You already got that down. You don’t need much help controlling your power either.” She separates the sphere of water into a bunch of tiny droplets one at a time. “So many people think the small stuff is also the easy stuff. The hard thing to learn isn’t blastin’ stuff. It’s precision.”

Bobby stares at it, “That’s really hard to do isn’t it?”

Jean lets out an exaggerated sigh, “You have no idea!”

Scott grins at Bobby, “This pyramid thing didn’t come from nowhere. The professor created a similar exercise for Jean. We simply edited it to your powers.” Scott laughs, “Jean hated it too.”

Jean guffaws, “Oh boy did I ever!” She floats the droplets into a series of crisscrossing orbits around her hand, “But if I hadn’t done that, I’d never have figured out this.”

Scott puts a hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “And it’s more than that too. You have a lot of power. But how much of it do you really have to use? If you keep going the way you’re going, you might hurt someone, even yourself.”

Bobby looks at Jean, and sees her normal jovial expression has grown serious. “Oh.”

Jean looks him in the eyes, “You already know that though, don’t you?” Bobby nods. Jean continues, “There’s a reason Scott and I volunteered to train you. Of all the people here, we’re the ones who have to exercise the most control. The most caution.”

Bobby’s eye’s widen, “You aren’t the first person I’d describe as cautious.”

Jean grins, “Being cautious doesn’t mean I can’t have fun!” She lifts the orbiting droplets in front of his face again, “And if I wasn’t cautious, I’d never have learned this!”

Scott puts a supportive hand on Bobby’s shoulder, “Bobby. If anyone understands what you’re dealing with, it’s the two of us. I can’t shut off my power, and it could easily destroy this building. Possibly even a whole city block. I can’t afford to make mistakes. And Jean… well…” He turns to her.

“You can tell him.” She says.

Scott nods, “When we found her, she was in an asylum. She was so powerful that she was indiscriminately reading the thoughts of every living being within a distance of around ten miles.”

Bobby’s eyes widen and he stares at Jean. Jean nods, “My mind was a jumbled mess! I couldn’t make heads of tails of it. Power isn’t all its cracked up to be.”

Bobby nods, “I think I understand.”

Scott smiles at him, “So, you think you can try that pyramid now?”

Bobby looks down, “What if I fail?”

That causes Jean and Scott to laugh, “Oh. You’ll fail. A lot. But that’s how you get better.” Scott says.

Jean grins at Bobby, “There’s like a week of footage of me failing at my pyramid. I’d show it to you but, I don’t want to bore you to death.”

Scott grins, “Don’t let her fool you. The footage is hilarious.”

Jean rolls her eyes, “He keeps saying that. But all I see is a pyramid falling apart over and over again.”

Scott winks at Bobby, “The secret is watching Jean’s expressions.”

Jean’s face flattens for a moment, then she grins, “You know? I never thought of that! I bet my frustrated facial expressions are hilarious!”

Scott grins, “The pyramid has a few epic fails too. We should make a highlight video to show the students at some point.”

Jean rolls her eyes, “Screw that! We should make a highlight video because that’s hilarious!”

Bobby smiles at them, “I’m gonna have a video like that too aren’t I?”

Jean puts an arm around him, “The video is proof of your effort. Proof of the sweat and tears you put into everything.”

Scott nods, “So, shall we start?”

Bobby nods, “Thanks.”

Jean grins, “You won’t be thanking us in an hour. Trust me.”

Bobby nods, and starts making ice cubes.

**Meanwhile**

Neil and Josh are in their room sitting around doing nothing. Bobby left to go train earlier, and Neil realizes that with everyone living there he may not get another chance to have a one on one with Josh. The thing is, what he wants to talk about could be dicey, so he finds himself indecisively staring at the ceiling. “Hey, Josh, can I ask you something?” He eventually asks

Josh looks at him, “Ask me what?”

Neil looks over at him, “Don’t feel like you have to answer. I’m just wondering what it was like being a member of the Friends of Humanity.”

Josh blinks, “I dunno. I guess I never really thought about it much. Why do you ask?”

Neil sighs, “Growing up surrounded by mutants, I never could see them as anything but people. I guess I’m trying to understand how the other side thinks.”

Josh thinks for a moment, “I guess, it was all about fear. I don’t think the Friends of Humanity was about hate, at least not initially. It was a group of people who were afraid.”

Neil nods, “Believe it or not, I understand. Remember how I was talking about mutants just being people to me? I’m not pro-mutant, whatever that means. I’ve been terrified of mutants too.”

Josh nods, “I got that from our earlier conversation. But, this wasn’t just fear. It was fear mongering. What started as a group of people just getting together to protect themselves became a cause. It became more than just the neighborhood watch group it started as.”

Josh walks over to Neil’s bed and sits next to him, “I don’t think it started being about hate, but it didn’t take long for hateful people to spur the fear into paranoia. To paint mutants as actual dangers rather than potential ones. I’ve actually thought about that a bit since I’ve gotten here. I can’t say what it was like being a member of the friends of humanity because I don’t have anything else to compare it to, but I do think a lot about how it came to be. Why the people in it think the way they do.”

Neil nods, “I understand. It makes sense. I just wish there was something more to it I guess. Something tangible that could be used as a basis for compromise. Because, like I said, I understand the fear, I really do, but if that’s all it is, then where do we go from there? Cause I also understand how irrational fear can be.”

Josh looks down, “I don’t know. The only reason I’m even here is because I was too afraid to die.”

Neil blinks at him, “What do you mean?”

Josh looks at Neil, “I mean that exactly. I was supposed to turn myself in to be experimented on or killed as an example to the cause. But I was afraid. Or maybe I wasn’t zealous enough. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just being weak, wanting to live. I look in the mirror and wonder if the thing looking back at me is a person, or a monster.”

Neil shakes his head, “Unfortunately the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.” He looks Josh in the face, “But I can tell you that being a mutant doesn’t automatically make you a monster. It just makes you more dangerous if you become one.” Neil puts a hand on Josh’s shoulder, “But Josh, I’ve known monsters, and you’re definitely not one.”

Josh puts a hand on Neil’s, “What happened to you?”

Neil sighs, “It’s not that I don’t want you to know. But talking about it is hard for me to do. When I tell you, I want to tell you and Bobby together, if not everyone here together. That way I only have to say it once.”

Josh sighs, but nods, “I can wait.”

Neil smiles at him, “Thank you again. You know, maybe I’m asking the wrong question. I keep wondering how people can see mutants as inhuman. But maybe the real question I should be asking is why do people see being inhuman as a bad thing?”

Josh shrugs, “That’s a good question, but probably harder to answer than your first.”

Neil sighs, “I know. There just isn’t an easy answer, even if I wish there was.”

Josh smiles at Neil sheepishly, “Maybe there isn’t, but that’s why we should talk about this. You said you wanted to understand the perspective of the Friends of Humanity? I’d like to understand your perspective.” Josh frowns, “I’d like to be able to look at myself in the mirror and not see a monster.”

Neil pats Josh’s shoulder again, “I hope you can too.”

**Meanwhile**

Kitty is wandering through the mansion, basically bored. Jean is with Scott training Bobby, Josh is in his room and John and Piotr are who knows where. That leaves her with no one to talk to. Then she remembers that new girl. The one that had come with that boy that is living with Josh and Bobby. The girl hasn’t been very talkative, but perhaps that’s just because Kitty hasn’t tried to talk to her either?

Of course, that’s no guarantee they’ll have anything to talk about, but she figures she won’t know that if she doesn’t try. And she doesn’t seem to have anything to lose.

Now if only she can find her. The mansion is large and though the area they commonly traverse on the first floor is laid out like a typical one story house, the rest if it is entirely different. It’s not particularly convoluted or anything, but most of the rooms are empty and there are a lot of them. So if she’s there, searching for her would be quite pointless.

Kitty shakes her head. She needs to stop overthinking stuff. The girl also could be sitting in the living room watching T.V. so that’s where she goes.

It turns out she doesn’t even need to reach the living room. She finds the girl walking out of the bathroom on her way towards the main entrance, “Hey!” She yells enthusiastically.

The girl’s response is considerably less enthusiastic, “Hey.”

Kitty is unperturbed, “Like, what are you doing?”

The girl shrugs, “Nuthin’.”

Kitty sighs, “Yeah. I’m pretty bored too.”

The girl raises her eyebrow, “Ai’m not bored. Just not doing anythin’.”

“What?” The idea of not being bored and doing nothing does not compute.

The girl shrugs, “Exactly wha’ Ai said. Ai’m doin’ nothin’.”

Kitty tilts her head to the side, “Then, do you mind doing something?”

The girl shrugs again, “Depends what it is.”

“Like, pick whatever. I’m bored out of my mind.” Kitty responds.

The girl laughs, “Ai don’ have much to say. But maybe Ai can get us somethin’ to do instead.”

Kitty raises her eyebrow, “Like what?”

The girl nods, “Like whatever. Have you ever searched the grounds?”

Kitty blinks her eyes, “I, like, never thought to. Why?”

The girl grins at her, “Cause they ah huge! There ah acres of land out there to explore!”

“Really? Do you think it’s safe?” Kitty asks.

The girl rolls her eyes, “It’s surrounded on all sides by either a large wall or a cliff. But if ya wan’ we can go ask.”

Kitty nods, “I’d, like, feel a lot better if we did.”

The girl shrugs, “Ai think I saw the white haired woman around here.”

Kitty nods, “Then let’s go find her.” The girl nods in response.

It doesn’t take long for them to find Ororo sitting in the kitchen drinking some tea. “Ororo. Can we ask you something?” Kitty asks.

Ororo nods, “Of course. What did you need?”

“We were wondering if there was an issue with us searching the grounds outside?” Kitty responds.

Ororo shakes her head, “Not at all. Though there is no safety fence by the cliff, and it is a long drop to the beach below.”

Kitty’s eyes widen, “We have a beach?”

Ororo raises her eyebrow, “Sort of, but there’s not an easy way to access it and the tides there can be hazardous.”

Kitty nods, “So don’t go alone.”

Ororo smiles, “That would be for the best. However, the rest of the grounds is perfectly safe for you. Though, I should warn you, much if the grounds would not be safe for outsiders, so please get prior approval before bringing anyone here.”

The girl raises her eyebrows, “Tha’ makes me curious.”

Ororo’s smile grows mysterious, “I’m sure it does. While I could explain to you, wasn’t the point of this to give you two something to do this afternoon? If I were to tell you what’s out there, you’d lose the opportunity to discover it for yourselves.”

Kitty blinks at her, “How did you know that?”

Ororo smiles, “I was a bored teenager not long ago. The signs are still readily visible to me. Just be careful, and you should be fine.”

Kitty turns to the girl, “What do you wanna do?”

The girl shrugs, “Ai dunno. Wanna just go wander the grounds and see what we fin’?”

Kitty nods, “Yeah. I’m Kitty.” She is about the hold out her hand for a handshake when she vaguely remembers something about the girl’s powers being touch activated, so she stops herself.

“Ai’m Rogue.” The girl says, with a shrug.

It turns out that there is a hallway that leads straight to a back exit. There is one curve at one point, which is the only reason why one couldn’t look down it and see the light coming in, and Kitty feels silly for not realizing this sooner.

Rather than leading to a yard or anything like that, the back of the mansion opens to an ornate series of stone stairways crisscrossing around several open areas, the first of which has benches surrounding an ornate fountain. Below that is one that has several tables with umbrellas that opens to a view of the ocean. Below that is one final open area, this time empty that has a smaller set of stairs that end in grass.

Strangely, there are stairs that go back from the center area to an area underneath the first one with what Kitty could only describe as a half outdoor pool. It’s entirely enclosed, but much of the enclosure is made of glass, or some other transparent substance, allowing natural light in and giving the illusion of an open air. The ceiling is lit with sky blue lights, adding to the outdoor effects. “Wow. The Professor put a lot of thought into this.” She says.

Rogue looks at Kitty, “Whaddaya mean?”

Kitty smiles at her, “Like, this pool would be an outdoor pool, except then we’d all have to wear wetsuits whenever we hung out here, in case of a sentinel scan.” She points to the glass, “I’m betting this is actually here to prevent us from being detected, otherwise why bother building it under the overhang like this?”

Rogue raises an eyebrow, “Huh. Tha’ makes a lot of sense. You a genius or somethin’?”

Kitty shakes her head, “Like, maybe? I dunno. Like, why’s that even important?”

“You don’t think being smart is important?” Rogue asks.

Kitty thinks for a moment, “I mean, duh, being smart is important, but whose smart isn’t that big a deal. Besides, you don’t need to be smart to notice stuff, or to be wise. My parents always told me that.”

Rogue smiles, “Thas’ an attitude Ai can get behin’.”

“So, do we go to the pool?” She motions out towards the grassy field that opens to an outcropping of trees. “Or do we head into the wilderness?”

Rogue grins, “Ai don’t have my suit. An besides, pools and skin covering don’t mix well.”

Kitty grins at her, “Maybe that wetsuit wasn’t such a bad idea?”

Rogue can’t help but laugh, “Ya aren’ gonna let me sit this out are ya?”

Kitty shakes her head, “Nope!”

Rogue laughs, “Ai guess I’ll hafta get used to it.”

Kitty motions down the stairs leading away from the pool, “Shall we?” Rogue shrugs in response.

The lower area is open, and fairly empty, except that the sides are lined with flower beds with beautiful arrangements growing in them. “This is, like, super pretty.” Kitty says as she looks around. Rogue nods in responds. Kitty has since realized that Rogue isn’t the most talkative person, so she doesn’t push. She’s pretty sure the girl will ask if she feels the need, and when she turns to walk into the yard, or maybe field is a better description, Rogue follows.

The field turns out to be just that, though Kitty realizes that it is too uniform to not be upkept, and when she looks, she realizes it’s large enough that many sports and other games could easily be played here. That thought makes her wonder why there isn’t a fence or wall near the cliffside. Even though the area is more than large enough to set a boundary well away from the edge so people are unlikely to slip off, that wouldn’t stop balls from doing the same thing. She notes the suggestion for later before going back to their survey.

What looked like an outcropping of trees from the porch area is more clearly a wooded area now, perhaps even a small forest. “So, looks like those woods are the next area of interest.”

Rogue shrugs, but she’s smiling, “Ai’m game.”

Kitty grins back, “Cool!”

The woods aren’t thick, and the canopy leaves much of the sky visible, but there are still enough trees that they lose sight of the mansion after a few minutes of walking. While the woods aren’t that special, just the same trees that grow in other parts of town, there’s still something serene about them. Not bustling with life nor devoid of it. Not too thick but still a nice place to get away.

“Hey!” Rogue says.

Kitty turns to her, “Did you find something?”

Rogue is looking down at a bush, “Ai did. There’s a thing here.”

Kitty walks over, “A thing?”

“Yah. A metal somethin’ or other.”

When Kitty walks over she indeed sees a metal thing, upon closer inspection, it’s a hatch of some sort. “What do you think it is?” Rogue asks.

“I have no idea.” Kitty responds. But when she looks around, she notices more of them. They are hidden really well. Most of them you’d never know were there unless you were actively looking for them, but the woods are littered with them. It makes Kitty wonder if these wood are natural at all. It would have been possible to go through and install whatever those are and leave the woods intact, but given the other things she’s seen at the institute, like the pool? The woods being entirely artificial also wouldn’t surprise her.

“Those ah startin’ to creep me out. Should we go inside?” Rogue asks.

Kitty nods, “Sure. It was nice to meet you.”

Rogue nods, “Likewise.”

**That Evening**

Scott sits with Charles and Ororo in Charles’ office. “Is something wrong?” He asks.

“That’s exactly what I was going to ask you. As far as I can tell, everyone is adjusting fine to being here, but I have not been reading people’s minds and I know teenagers have a way of hiding their troubles from the adults around them. You are probably still young enough to come off as a peer, so someone may have sad something to you that I missed.” Charles says.

Scott shakes his head, “Not that I know of. But if someone did come to me in confidence, I wouldn’t tell you if they didn’t want me to.”

Charles puts his hands up in surrender, “Nor would I ask you to. I would hope you’d inform us if someone was having issues, but I trust you to be able to handle these decisions yourself. But it sounds to me as if my concerns are unwarranted?”

Scott thinks for a moment, “I’m not so sure of that. There are two people I’m worried about, though one is merely a suspicion.”

Charles thinks for a moment, “John?”

Scott nods, “I am worried about John, but my suspicion is Josh. He’s a bit too positive for a guy whose entire world was shattered. I’m worried he’s either a great actor, in denial, or both.”

Charles turns to Ororo, “What do you think?”

Ororo sighs, “I have to agree with Scott. Josh does not act like a guy who was a member of a mutant hate group. I have a feeling the other shoe will drop eventually, and someone will have to be there to catch him, or something terrible might happen.”

Charles nods, “I understand.” He turns to Scott, “I think if he was going to come to one of us with that, he’d have done so already. I suspect he feels guilty for feeling the way he does, and is worried that we’ll judge him for it.”

Ororo sighs, “Charles, considering what happened with Paul, do you really think Scott is the right person for this?”

Scott looks down as Charles responds, “I suppose that might be an issue. I can have Piotr talk to him if you think that might be an issue Scott?”

Scott sighs, “I wonder if any of us can get through to him.”

Ororo and Charles look at him, “What do you mean?” Charles asks.

“When it comes down to it, we’re all mutants. And we’ve all accepted that we’re mutants. If he’s having difficulty with that, us talking to him might cause him to feel worse, regardless of our intentions.” He looks down at the table, “But that is a catch 22 isn’t it? Because if someone who isn’t okay with themselves talks to him, it might make things worse.”

Ororo and Charles sigh, “So I suppose we’ll have to watch that situation as it comes and hope that Josh can come to accept himself on his own. I’m hoping rooming with Bobby and Neil will help him in that regard, but only time will tell.”

He steeples his hands, “Now John is another matter entirely. Josh may be having issues accepting himself, but at least he isn’t being anti-social. At first I thought John was just slow to get close to people, but now I worry he is actively avoiding social contact. What do you think?”

Scott nods, “That’s not what worries me. He’s not just anti-social, he’s listless and apathetic. The only thing he seems to care about is his power, and he doesn’t put much effort into practicing with it. Obsession without control can be a dangerous combination.”

“Do you really think it’s that bad?” Charles asks.

Ororo thinks for a moment, “I think obsession is a strong word, but I do understand Scott’s point. I’ve been a bit worried about that too. That said, I don’t think he’s past a point of no return. With the right intervention, I think John might come around.”

Scott nods, “The question is, what intervention. Because the wrong kind of intervention could have the exact opposite effect.”

Ororo sighs, “Agreed.” They both turn to Charles. “What do you think?”

Charles also sighs, “Unfortunately, I have no reason to doubt that you’re saying. John has been aloof with me, but it wouldn’t be the first time a student of mine has been, and aloofness isn’t inherently problematic. But if what you say is true, and it’s more than just that, then we have to be careful.”

“So, you think we should watch and wait with John?” Ororo asks.

Charles thinks for a moment, “I don’t know. What I do know is that whatever we do, we should figure it out sooner rather than later.” He turns to Scott, “Is there anyone he has shown a connection with?”

Scott thinks for a bit, “Piotr I think. I have seen them talking on a few occasions and John seems a bit more relaxed with him than anyone else? Did you want Piotr to talk to him?”

Charles shakes his head, “Perhaps indirectly, but I don’t think we should force it. We should let that develop at it’s own pace. Though if that’s the case, we should bring Piotr up to date on our worries and bring him here when we next discuss this issue.”

Ororo nods, “Agreed.”

Scott realizes he’s tapping his feet, “Is there anything else?”

Charles laughs, “Getting a bit antsy there?”

Scott nods, “I’m not sure I’m cut out for this. All this planning makes me nervous.”

Ororo smiles at him, “Yet you handle yourself quite well. Scott, I think Charles would agree with me when I say that you were born for this sort of thing.”

Scott rolls his eyes, “Born to be the guy with the stick up his butt? Great! Go me.”

Ororo shakes her head, “Oh come on Scott, you aren’t that bad. If you were, you’d never have the levity to mention it.”

Scott smiles at her, “I’m glad you think so. Sometimes I wonder if I’m losing my ability to see the good in the world.”

Charles puts a hand on Scott’s shoulder, “You’re too hard on yourself Scott. It’s good that you’re careful, but the line between self control and repression is short. Don’t let yourself lose that childish spontaneity. It was always one of your best qualities.”

Scott smiles, “Maybe I’m projecting my own worries onto Josh and John.”

Ororo puts a hand on his other shoulder, “Perhaps you are, or perhaps you’re own issues have made you more aware of theirs. In any case, you aren’t the only one to have noticed the signs. Like Charles said? You need to be less hard on yourself. You’re barely 20 years old, don’t force yourself to grow up too quickly.”

Scott nods, “Thanks.”

Charles ponders Scott for a moment, “I think I’ve been giving you too much responsibility too fast. Not that I don’t think you can handle it, but I do think that perhaps I’ve been disregarding that you are still young, and should have time to just be young.”

Scott looks up at him, “You don’t have to do that.”

Charles nods, “I know. But you don’t have to do any of this either. I appreciate the help, but you have a tendency to put too much on your shoulders. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should be obligated to. We’ll still keep your up to date of course, but Scott? You’re no help to anyone else if you can’t help yourself.”

Scott stands up, “I guess I’ll go live a little then.”

Ororo and Charles smiles at him, “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

**Meanwhile**

“What do you mean?” John asks Bobby as they stand around in the halls near the usually hidden elevator to what everyone informally refers to as the basement. Bobby had run up to him all excited, and John was curious enough about Bobby’s over the top enthusiasm to put his dislike of the boy on hold. He did want to try and give him the benefit of the doubt if possible after all.

“I mean they had me stacking ice blocks in sweltering heat!” Bobby says.

John blinks, “That sounds terrible! Why the fuck are you so happy?”

Bobby nods, “It kinda was! But Jean showed me this thing she can do with droplets of water that was awesome and she said I might be able to do similar things after I master this!” John can’t help but stare at Bobby’s hands which he seems to be moving around in some strange, largely indecipherable, pattern. Bobby doesn’t seem to notice, “So I remembered what you could do with fire and I thought that this kind of training would be even better for you! You could learn to do truly momentous things with your power!”

John raises his eyebrows at that. That definitely sounds appealing, “Momentous things?”

Bobby nods emphatically, “Like! You could make huge fire golems! Or a tiny circus made entirely of fire dancing around!”

John laughs, “Why the fuck would I want to make a tiny fire circus?”

Bobby blinks at him, “Because it would be cool of course. I mean… why wouldn’t you?”

John thinks for a moment, “I dunno. Isn’t that a bit childish?”

“I guess. But what’s wrong with that?” And John can’t really find an answer to that except nothing, but he won’t give Bobby the satisfaction, so instead he draws out his lighter. “Maybe I can do that now?”

“Make a circus?” Bobby asks.

John nods, “Yeah! It can’t be that hard can it?”

Bobby shrugs, “I dunno. Maybe? Jean seems to think that kind of precision is harder than it looks.”

John grins, “Well maybe I’m more of a natural than Jean!”

Bobby grins back, “Maybe!” He thinks for a moment, “But maybe starting with a whole circus isn’t the best idea? Wouldn’t want to burn the mansion down.”

John actually doesn’t think he’d care if he burnt the mansion down, but that still doesn’t mean Bobby’s suggestion is a bad idea, since burning down the mansion would leave him without a place to go. So on second thought, he does care, just indirectly. “So what if I just make like… an elephant flying through flaming rings?”

Bobby laughs, “Why an elephant?”

John shrugs, “Why not?”

Making the ring floating in the sky is easy, but John can already see why he might need training when he tries to make the elephant. In the end it looks more like a like a strange giant eared rabbit with a trunk than an elephant.

“It looks more like a flying skunk than an elephant!” Bobby says with a laugh.

“Hey! It’s my first time! This is harder than it looks!” John admits.

Bobby grins and waggles a finger at him, “So, do you want the training now?”

John grumbles, though he’s more amused than annoyed, “Fine fine! But I insist that I can make this elephant right now!”

Bobby crosses his arms, “Go for it! That’s something I’d love to see!”

John can’t tell if Bobby’s being supportive or smug, but he decides he doesn’t care. Whether he shows Bobby what he wants to see or shows him up, either way John wins! If he can ever get this stupid elephant to look right anyway.

That’s when they both hear a gasp. When they turn they see Neil staring at them wide eyed. “Oh shit! Sorry!” John says, but before he can put the fire out Neil’s entire body starts shaking and he let’s out a scream before he jumps backwards to the wall and sinks his head between his knees.

John is stunned by this. He was told Neil was afraid of fire, but the explosiveness of his meltdown is totally outside of his expectations. This isn’t just fear, it’s a full blown panic attack!

“What should we do?” Bobby asks, panic in his voice.

“I don’t know.” John says, before he realizes that the ring of fire and elephant is still there. He quickly snuffs them out.

“I’ll go find someone!” John says, reasoning that his presence would only make the boy more out of it.

“I’ll stay with him.” Bobby says.

John finds Ororo in her room and when he tells her what happened she immediately stands up. “Come on John.”

“Shouldn’t I be away from him right now?” John asks.

Ororo shakes her head, “No. If you run away that’ll just make him feel worse.”

John raises an eyebrow at her, “You think so?”

Ororo nods, “This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

John follows Ororo to where they find Neil still sitting on the floor. Bobby has moved closer to him, but seems totally at a loss of what to do.

John feels droplets of water fall from above and it only takes him a moment to realize that Ororo is making it rain inside. The water is a pleasant temperature. Like a cool sub tropical rain. “Neil, it’s okay.”

The reaction to her voice is instant, Neil looks up at her and his breathing starts to slow, “O… Oro… Ororo?” He asks hesitantly.

Ororo walks over to him, “Yes. It’s me. Everything is going to be alright.” She kneels in front of him. He moves to wrap his arms are around her in an instant. And John can see he’s crying. John can’t help but feel for the boy, and feel a bit guilty too. He should have been more careful.

After a moment Neil speaks, “I… need… to...” Each word fills John with a little more remorse. “...I need… to... apologize...” At that John’s eyes widen in surprise. “...to.”

“What?” Bobby sounds just a shocked as John feels.

John steps forward, “I should apologize to you.”

Neil shakes his head, “No… It’s not your fault.” He hugs Ororo tight, “I… it’s me… it’s not you… it’s... not personal… I...” He takes a deep breath, “I...” He leans back and faces Ororo, “I think I… need to tell them. Can you get... everybody?”

Ororo looks him in the eyes, “Are you sure?”

Neil nods, “Yeah. I… want him to know why. So he knows it’s not him.”

John can’t tell what to feel. On the one hand, Neil is recovering from what happened atypically quickly and seems to be aware of his own trigger. But at the same time, that implies a familiarity with what happened, a sense of resignation to it that can only mean the occurrence is relatively commonplace. It’s not that John can’t imagine what that would be like. He doesn’t have to. While he’s never had a panic attack, he spent a large amount of his life resigned to fear.

**A Moment Later**

Neil walks slowly and shakily as Ororo holds him. He’s so glad she’s there, as had she not been his panic attack might have been much worse. He still remembers her voice and the warm feeling of her rain. Like his brother’s thoughts, it’s one of the few things that can make him feel safe even in his panicked state.

He isn’t sure what happened. He hasn’t had a panic attack this bad in a long time. He doesn’t know what he saw that set him off, his memory is vague and partially repressed, but he knows it can’t have been that bad. The guilt hits him again as he sighs into Ororo. John doesn’t deserve this. This is definitely not his fault.

“It’s not your fault you know.” Ororo says. Neil tries to nod, but his body is all shaky. Of course he knows that, but that doesn’t stop him from feeling guilty. “And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“I do want to.” Neil says. “It always helps.” He takes a breath, “As hard as it is to say. It always helps having people know.”

Ororo walks him over to a cushioned chair in the living room where she sits him down. He leans back into it and shuts his eyes. He starts to count his heartbeats. For some reason listening to his own heart and counting the beat is calming to him.

He is still a bit shaky when he opens his eyes, but the panic has mostly left him, leaving a more general anxiety he knows he’ll feel until he can tell them, especially John, why.

He finds the living room full of people. Everyone is watching him warily and his feelings of guilt rise up. “I’m sorry.” He says. He can tell that most of them want to say something, but they hold their tongues, which he’s grateful for. “You see, I guess I just need to say it. You see, I’m afraid of fire. Especially supernatural fire.”

He looks at John, “I’ve been afraid of fire since I was a child.” He shuts his eyes, “You see. My parents are… were, pretty wealthy. Even by the standards of our community. And so when we accepted a couple of mutants they decided they wanted to get that wealth. So they kidnapped me.”

As Neil expects, that causes a gasp to cross the room, “I was four years old, so if that were all it was? It probably would have been fine. I didn’t really know what was going on anyway.” He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. “But that wasn’t all it was.

“They were sadists. At least, I can’t imagine them being anything else, because why else would you do what they did to a child?” Now that he’s started talking, he finds he has to say everything. As much as it hurts.

“One of them was a telepath. An illusionist. But his illusions weren’t just visible, they could involve all of your senses. The other one was a pyromancer.” He looks down, “They immolated me.”

He pauses for the second gasp he knows will occur, “From the moment they set eyes on me, I was burning in a fire I couldn’t escape. I didn’t know how long it had been. I was told I was with them for four days, but all I can remember is seeing fire all around me, and feeling its burn.” Gasp number three.

Jean’s eyes widen, “He had you stuck in an illusion of being on fucking fire!?”

Charles starts to speak, to chastise her Neil assumes, but he raises his hand to stop him. “Yes. So my nerves couldn’t die, nor could my brain go into shock. The pain was constant and terrible.” He shakes his head, “If that weren’t enough, when the ransom wasn’t paid. When a rescue was made, they immolated me for real.”

There is less of a gasp this time and more of an incredulous murmur. “If Ororo hadn’t been there I’d probably be dead.” He smiles up at her, “Her rain put the fire out, and soothed my pain, at least a little bit. And her voice, her voice was the first thing I heard.”

He takes his cap off, revealing his hairless head, “I was taken to a healer, who managed to keep me alive. But the damage was extensive. While she managed to avoid scarring, her power couldn’t restore my hair follicles, which is why I have no hair anywhere on my body.”

He turns to John, “So, you see, this has nothing to do with you. I’ve been dealing with this for a long time. I know it’s irrational. I just wanted you to know that.”

John nods, “I get it.”

Neil nods, “Thank you.”

Neil can tell they all have questions, but he’s surprised when they hold their tongues. “It’s okay. Now that you know, I can talk about it. Talking about it helps. It’s just… describing it brings the memories back. That’s why I didn’t say anything before now. I wanted to tell all of you at the same time, so I’d only have to tell the story once.”

Charles raises his hand, “I’m sure you all have questions, but I think we should give Neil the chance to rest. Even if this isn’t a new experience for him, let’s let him recouporate before we cover him with questions, shall we?”

Neil looks over at Josh and then at Bobby, “Can Josh and Bobby take me to my room?”

Charles turns to Josh and then to Bobby, “As long as that’s okay with you?”

Josh nods, “Of course.”

Bobby nods too, “Dude! Yeah. Man. Of course.”

Neil stands up and looks at John again before Bobby and Josh flank him and walk with him to their room.

Once they get there, Josh looks at him. “You really have known monsters.”

“Yeah! That’s fucked!” Bobby says.

Neil nods, “So, do you believe me now then when I say you aren’t one?”

Bobby looks at Josh, “Dude, you think you’re a monster?”

Josh looks at his roommates, “I guess I used to. Maybe I still do? But maybe I never really knew what a monster is.”

Bobby walks over to Neil, “Can I hug you?” He asks hesitantly.

Neil blinks, “Sure, but why are you asking?”

Bobby shrugs, “I guess you just, seem to need a hug? But you also had a panic attack, so...” But Neil can tell that Bobby’s shrug is a front. Bobby’s want to hug him is genuine.

Neil smiles, “Thank you. A hug sounds good.”

Bobby motions Josh over, “Come on! Group hug!”

Josh shakes his head at the silliness of it all, but grins. And soon Neil finds himself sandwiched between his two roommates. It’s only then that the tension leaves his body, replaced with exhaustion.

**Meanwhile**

John is wandering the halls a far away from Bobby, Josh and Neil’s room as he can. It’s all as well anyway, since he wants to be alone and this particular part of the institute is rarely, if ever, used. He wonders as he looks at all the empty rooms. Charles clearly has planned for a lot more people than just them.

John isn’t sure how he feels about that. The truth is, he isn’t sure how he feels about any of this. He’s connected with Piotr, in a mentor sort of way, but everyone else seems a bit wary of him. He can tell Scott wants to help him, but doesn’t know how, so he just pities him. In the past, he’d have tried to milk Scott’s pity for all it was worth, but he’s pretty sure Scott would see through him instantly and he wouldn’t feel pity anymore. Then there’s just the fact that if he does that, he’ll be reliant on other people still. Being reliant on other people is what screwed his life up in the first place.

Jean likes him, and despite her excess energy, he likes her. But she also sees the danger in him. She knows he has the potential for violence. And the thing is, he knows she’s right. He still remembers that she saw him burn down that house. Sure, the others saw it on fire. But she saw him not even try to put it out.

Bobby likes him, but he can’t really find it in himself to like Bobby. The frustrating thing is he knows it isn’t even Bobby’s fault. And yet some part of him blames him. Despite the fact that Bobby is trying to understand his point of view. Bobby is changing. And he wonders, why can’t he?

That thought just leads him back where he started. Perhaps he should try and talk to Josh. Or Kitty. He doesn’t know either of them that well. In a strange way, he thinks Neil might understand him more than any off them, but he can’t talk to him, not after what happened. The look of terror and helplessness on Neil’s face still haunts him, and especially after hearing the explanation? He wouldn’t wish that upon his worst enemy. The very thing that he feels might make Neil understand him is the reason he can’t approach him. Neil doesn’t deserve to be reminded of that. Just like he doesn’t want to be reminded of the times in his life he’s felt that helpless.

A voice pulls him out of his reverie. “Hey kid.” He turns to see Logan standing there.

“Uh… sorry. I’ll put the fire out.” He says.

Logan shrugs, “If ya want to. But everything here’s fire proof.”

John raises an eyebrow, “You guys fire proofed everything for me?”

Logan shakes his head, “We knew there would be people who could use fire.” He laughs, “Heck! The building has a gas line!” He gives John a look, “Ya know kid. Hang out too much alone and you’ll start to think the world revolves around you.”

John blinks, “What do you mean?”

Logan steps up to him, “Loners like us, we sometimes get it into our heads that the world hates us. Or that we deserve the world to be a certain way. But that’s not how it works. Trust me, you go against the world? You’ll get crushed.”

John thinks about what Piotr said, “Piotr said something similar. Were you two talking?”

Logan shakes his head, “Nope. But if two people said it to you, maybe you should stop thinking about how the world is against you and start thinking about how you can stop being against the world.”

John looks down, “But what do you do if the world really is against you?”

Logan scoffs, “The world is never against you kid. None of us are that important.”

John isn’t even sure what Logan means. He wonders if Logan could possibly understand what his life has been like? But something about the man tells him that he understand exactly what John’s life has been like.

“So what do I do?” He asks.

Logan looks at him, “About what?”

John sighs, “What if I don’t belong here?”

Logan tilts his head to the side, “Is this about Neil?”

John looks down at the floor, “Nah. Well, maybe a little. But I’ve been worrying about this since before he was even here.”

To John’s surprise, Logan simply nods. “Maybe you don’t. I sometimes feel like that. I’ve even left the place a few times. I’ve always eventually felt the urge to come back, but that doesn’t mean I have no idea what you’re feeling.”

John looks at his hand to find he’s finally succeeded at making an elephant, “So what should I do?”

Logan gives him a look, “Maybe you don’t belong here? But that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit. You can learn a lot from these folks. Maybe this isn’t the path for you. But couldn’t it be a place you find your path?”

John looks up at him and smiles, “So if I leave here, then I leave here. But as long as I’m here, I should let myself be here?”

Logan laughs, “That’s a good way of thinking about it.” He walks over to John and leans against the wall, “Just don’t spend all your time looking for your path, and forget to walk on it.”

John nods, “Thanks.”

Logan ruffles John’s head, and for some reason it doesn’t bother him as much as it did when his father did it. He then looks down, “Is that an Elephant?”

John nods, “Yeah. I was trying to make it when Neil walked in on us.”

Logan smiles, “It’s pretty good. Ya know? You should go do this pyramid training thing Jean did.”

John laughs, “Bobby was talking about it. What is it?”

Logan shrugs, “Something about power multitasking or something. Never was relevant to me, so I dunno the details.”

John looks down at the elephant, “The circus is in town.”

Logan raises an eyebrow, “Circus?”

John laughs, “Nothing. Just something Bobby and I were joking about.”

John looks down at the elephant in his hand, and laughs when he finds that it has Bobby’s face now. It’s Bobby’s head attached to an elephant’s body with giant ears and a trunk and he laughs. He can feel the resentment underneath that laugh. And if laughing about circuses can’t get rid of it, he’s pretty sure nothing will.

But at least he can try and not let that rule his life. Circuses make people happy. And he wonders if he can use his powers to make people happy to? That’s something to aspire to isn’t it? He turns to say bye to Logan, but the man has already walked off, so he returns to his room. He’ll ask Scott and Jean about the training tomorrow.


End file.
